It’s Friday and I’ve managed to accomplish exactly zero goals for the week. A few through no fault of my own (things changed, Adora decided to wait until next week to take her driver’s test, etc.); however, the lion’s share of the failure can be directly attributed to time squandered.
Regarding drinking and smoking: it is absolutely true that, at some point, I will not feel better the next day if I refrain; however, that doesn’t mean there isn’t value in the practice of projected reinforcement, of how I will feel tomorrow if I refrain today. I am grateful today that I did not indulge last night. This feeling of gratitude can be perpetuated for weeks or even months. Also, it may be worth going back and reading my entrees leading up to Labor Day as I seemed to be at peak happiness without any particular need to indulge.
In the same vein of projected value, I am absolutely more fulfilled when I’ve accomplished a thing I have set out to do around the house, no matter how small that thing may be. Simply seeing the finished thing makes me happy each time I look at it for days. In turn, viewing the unfinished thing tends to become a subtle, nagging stressor. It should be unnecessary to state this; however, I only tend to live as if it were true in short spurts. Which, I guess, would be OK if the downswing consisted of losing myself in whatever form of recuperation, including entertainment, rather than life thieving binges that make me less in every way.
