Pleasure from indulging ourselves is momentary.
Guilt from having done so lasts much longer.
Eating an entire bag of chips, browsing online and impulsively buying a new gadget, hitting snooze on the alarm clock as we burrow back into the sheets—all are done because we feel entitled to them.
Perhaps we had worked hard and felt a reward was deserved.
Perhaps we hadn’t worked hard and sought to distract ourselves from self-reproach.
Perhaps we were unhappy.
Or just bored.
And so we indulged ourself and felt a surge of enjoyment. All too soon, however, that momentary pleasure passes and only the memory remains. And with it guilt. Having previously determined the futility of such indulgences, we had told ourselves we wouldn’t repeat them. And yet, we just did. Feelings of frustration, remorse, embarrassment fester within us. They linger, enduring far longer than any fleeting satisfaction from our latest bout of indulgence.
What can we do?
Understand we have more work to do, commit ourselves to doing it, and get to work.