Summary: When we are being tempted we tell ourselves, "Well it's ONLY ONE." So we eat the one doughnut, drink the one mountain dew, the one double cheesburger, the one piece of cake. We practice doing the wrong thing, getting better and better at it. There is another way to look at this phrase. My ex-wife used a tool to quite smoking. It measured how often you smoked, and then told you when to smoke by expanding the time between cigarettes until you eventually were smoking ONLY ONE cigarette a day. It is then believed that at this point if you are down to ONLY ONE - you can quit. It's not like you're asked to give every ounce of money you have, it's asking for a dollar. It's not asking you to quit eating, it's asking you to quit eating one item. So quit thinking, "It's only one, it's not that bad." Instead think, "Since it's only one, I can skip it." I'm on the Mountain Dew wagon. I was challenged by Dr. David Marlow of Slice Your Life to "just quit." So I did. As I write this I'm on day three of no dew. At my worst (mid thirties) I would drink a six pack a day. It looked like this: Get up, and crack the "morning dew" Crack another one for the 45 minute drive to work. Get to work and crack a dew to start my day. So it's 8 am and I'm 36 ounces. I would have one at lunch, and another one around 3 pm. Then I would have one with dinner. Maybe one more if I was watching a movie with my wife It was routine to have at least six cans of mountain dew. People would buy me dew for birthdays. It was part of my identity. Fight the Good Fight I've been fighting it over the years. I know there is nothing nutritious about it. Nothing. I would be "on the wagon" and much like a smoker I would think, "well I'll have just one." That would lead to two, and once again I would practice doing the wrong thing, and get pretty good at it. "Just one" is a lie and I know it." Yesterday (day two of no dew) come 2 pm I was D R A G G I N G. Luckily, my new office has no vending machines (my old office had an endless supply of dew, chips, cookies, doughnuts). I thought of walking to Lowes (right next door) to have "Just one." I was soooo tired. Then it came to me. Instead of looking at it as "Just one" I thought, "If I'm truly going to have "just one" and I DON'T have it, I'm giving up ONLY ONE. I remember a device my ex-wife used to quit smoking. The first week it measured how many cigarettes you smoked, and then after that it would beep when it was time to smoke. Over time it stretched the amount of time between cigarettes until you were smoking one a day. At one a day, the thought was you can kick it. So with me drinking "only one" a day I can kick it. It was hard. I had to really fight. I got on the phone and called me wife instead. It distracted me, and soon I forgot all about it. I got off the phone and returned to something productive. You Can Do This: So if you think you're only going to have one of whatever it is you crave, if you choose to give it up you're only giving up one. You can skip one right?
