October 13
A great way to check the legitimacy of my excuse is to ask myself if there is another way to accomplish whatever it is. If I am unwilling to even explore other alternatives, chances are I am just trying to allow myself to blow it off. I have no intention of following through and the excuse is just to throw my conscience a bone.
Case in point: A real sticking point for a lot of folks in this overly busy culture is grocery shopping. Whole weeks of eating are influenced by this single unaccomplished task. Fortunately, there are some easy solutions. For example: PeaPod (or the like) to the rescue. Easy and inexpensive to use, this service is priceless. Even stocking my house with frozen or canned veggies and proteins that are already cooked will work for just such emergencies.
Also, of course, eating out or ordering in doesn’t have to be out of line with my normal weekday healthy choices. It may require that I adjust some of the “accessories” that often accompany it though, even when making a comparably healthy choice. And I still find that eating out or ordering in has the aura (and in my case, history) of treat night even on a nondescript Tuesday, so creating a repertoire of safe choices and practicing them so that it is my autopilot fallback position will really help me if I regularly find grocery shopping dropping off my to-do list.
If I just buy into the excuse, though, I miss even finding these simple but vital solutions.