Structure

Today I have been thinking about how easy it is to overeat when I get home from work or when I'm alone here in the house.  I notice when I am overeating I often feel paralyzed.  Not so much emotionally paralyzed but rather I'm overwhelmed with choices.  Eating is immediate, soothing, relaxing, and something to do.   I eat to manage the swirling chaos of choices facing me.  For instance, I can clean the house  but where do I start - the whole house needs work.  I can paint, I can read a book (I have 3 waiting to start.)  I can work on writing my book, I can call my friend, Julie, I can ride the stationary cycle, I can take a hot bath,  you get the picture.When I leave work I leave behind 6 straight hours of concentrated mental activity.  In a twisted sort of logic I tell myself that now that I'm out of work I don't have to do anything.  This is not an effective way to live my life - not if I want to be creative, strong, and happy.
     Over the next few weeks I'm going to build some structure into my home life.  I think I will try setting up a schedule to do the things I want to do.  I want to lift weights, I want to be flexible, I want to strengthen my knee, I want to train enough to be able to ride in the pedal across lower Michigan ride next year.  I want to write and publish my novel, I want to do so much more than what I have been doing up to this point; but it will never happen if I sit and snack away the afternoon.   It's time to let go of the security of snacking and start living and this looks to be another step in the right direction.  (Whoa, where did the security comment come from - something to think about.)