Do You Indulge In Indulgences Too Much?
Because too much of a good thing can start to suck.
I was in the grocery store yesterday and as I rolled my cart up to the checkout I saw something that made my hair stand on end.
Halloween candy. Mountains of it.
Halloween candy in August.
2.5 months before scary little ghosts, witches and Power Rangers hit our doorsteps begging for candy.
Why has this deep offense to our waistlines and wallets happened?
Because candy companies realize that adults are the ones who hoover up the baby chocolate bars. We’re the ones with the jobs and wallets. (I’m sure I’m not the only one who has raided the chocolate bar bowl in front of Netflix).
Listen.
I don’t mind Halloween candy coming out in early October. I can even handle the last week of September.
But freaking August????
Companies know our Indulgence Boundaries have dramatically weakened.
Remember when you could only get Easter candy at Easter? Now, you head to Costco and you can buy those damn little chocolate mini-eggs year-round.
And eggnog? Forget Christmas. Forget November.
That marvelous sh*t is showing up in early October.
If I start drinking eggnog in October I may as well give up on ever losing the 20 pounds that have shown up on my ass from…well… premature Halloween candy and year-round Easter eggs.
The only thing that has ever stuck with me from my university Micro-Economics class is the measurement of utils.
Utils. Who thought I would ever write that word again?
It has a boring name but wait until you see what it does to your life.
Utils are a hypothetical unit that measures satisfaction.
For example, the first bite of a chocolate bar delivers huge utils if you’re a chocolate lover.
The second bite, the utils drop as it does with each successive bite.
And the last bite?
Well, my nerdy Micro-Economics prof said the last bite of the chocolate bar has the fewest amount of utils in comparison with the first bite.
(I did argue with him in class that this doesn’t apply to sex, and his face did turn red, but that’s another essay entirely.)
Weirdly, the more we indulge in our indulgences, the less satisfaction we get.
My husband and I love lobster.
We only eat it twice a year. It’s a pretty big deal.
Because if you eat lobster every damn month of the year, lobster starts to lose its dazzle.
New Year’s Eve is when lobster has its big shining moment in our home.
We buy 5 lobsters as well as prawns and scallops and we create a seafood fondue that would knock your socks off.
And the next day we use the left-overs and make a seafood chowder and everyone moans while they eat it.
Lobster is safely in high-util-territory with us. (Sorry about that Mr. Lobster).
Thinking about simplifying your complicated life?
A good place to start is where you know your indulgences have started to become a little nutty.
Starbucks every day? 12 magazines rolling to your mailbox each month?
Does the Amazon delivery guy have a standing invite at your door?
Take a look at your credit card statement.
Your indulgences are probably standing there and shivering in their utils.
The great thing about over-indulging in indulgences is that we can stop.
We can bring back the joy that something once held for us.
You don’t need to keep raising your pleasure threshold so high that it becomes unattainable.
Hold on now. You don’t have to go cold turkey.
Try alternating months, weeks or days with your indulgences. Carve them back by 30%.
You won’t miss it and when you do finally have it again (whatever it is) you‘ll probably have a smile on your face.
I must confess that as much as I want my mom’s buttery OMG shortbread cookies year-round — I will wait for Christmas.
She’ll walk in the door with a smile, carrying the ancient Tupperware container filled with shortbread. There will be a small mob that quickly surrounds her.
And our heads will explode with freaking Util Joy.
Hmm.
Maybe I should write a Christmas song about that.
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