My person recently commented that I hadn't written in awhile. I nodded and said I knew and was quiet for a minute. (just a minute). I said that I felt it was silly to write about small things in my life while the world was a dumpster fire. He said he got that but isn't it when we stop doing the things we enjoy that the people torching the world as we know it win? He is very wise, my person. You have him to thank for this missive!
In the past week, I have done something I did not think I could ever, ever do. Ready? I am really so proud of this one. No, I didn't set a record pace for anything. And sadly, my Spanish is still terrible. I didn't graduate anything or enroll in anything. I didn't save anyone or do anything noble. But you know what I was able to do? I went an entire week without eating anything chocolate!!! If you know me, you know what a feat this is! I love chocolate. I love to smell it and eat it and bake with it. And for an entire week, nary a cocoa-dusted or chocolate-studded anything has passed my lips. I expect my "One Week Without Chocolate" badge to come in the mail any day now. Hmm, this reminds me that I am still waiting on my "Survived My First Midwest Winter" badge.
I have gotten through life believing that one handful of chocolate chips a day is more important than 60 ounces of water for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And if one handful is good, two is definitely better. And that handful of chocolate chips doesn't count for a serving of sweets so go ahead and eat a Reese's cup or whatever other desk chocolate you might come across. I have felt and treated chocolate like its own food group my entire life. I prefer dark chocolate and dark chocolate chips, but I will eat milk chocolate and feel no sadness. I also can't quite enjoy baking if there isn't chocolate involved. Banana bread? Needs chocolate chips. Same with pumpkin or, really, any bread or muffin. Brownies? Have to bite into a chocolate chip to make it totally satisfying. I have passed this love of chocolate onto my children and one of my favorite memories is a tiny Sophie declaring, "MAMA, I need chocolate." I felt that in my bones and got this tiny child the chocolate she needed and some for me as well.
I swear I can smell this right now. |
Why have I had a week of forgoing something I love so much? Well, as stated, I did just survive my first Midwest winter. There are a few different ways that I acclimated to survive a true winter in a very long time. First, I curled under an electric blanket on the couch a lot. SO much warmth and the cats liked it too. Second, many days I didn't go outside again once I got home from work. No reason to go back out there in that mess. Third, my person and I regaled each other by making dishes from our youth that depended heavily on carbs on carbs with cheese. Yum. Family-size portions for two people. Delicious, family-sized portions for two people. When you are curled up under an electric blanket, eating carbs and carbs on cheese seems like a very good thing. When the weather gets better and you put on a pair of shorts for the first time in six months and the horror of your prison-pallor thighs stares back at you, you realize maybe a little too much of a good thing. This combined with the fact I am a middle-aged woman with a sluggish metabolism has left me making some new choices.
Knowing that chocolate has always been my Achilles' heel, I think I just needed to see if I could go a day and then two days and now a week without chocolate. Could I control what has controlled me for so long? And I could. Last week alone, I turned down M&Ms and a chocolate chip cookie brownie combo! It was kind of empowering in a world where I can not control big things like the economy or the general lack of humanity to control one small thing instead.
I am drinking more water and moving more and added weights back into my life and once or twice a week, standing in a hot room doing hot yoga and sweating like my life depends on it. Because it does. Because I want to be healthy and hanging off of a mountain when I am 80 and older. And I really like to eat. I love to eat, actually. I love the taste of food and the memories it can evoke. I love the smell of something in the oven and that same smell reheated at lunch the next day. But I can love food and still be mindful of it. I can eat carbs on carbs on cheese, but maybe not family portions of them. I also know that I will definitely bring back chocolate into my world and mouth soon because I love it and enjoy it; just maybe not by the handful.