When I sat down to write this blog I was sitting at Mazinga On the Bay in Saint Eustacius eating a Haagen Dazs cookies and cream ice cream bar. Then, I had to take a break to walk next door to the Gin House for a pina colada. But it’s March so that’s ok. And that also explains the short post to follow. (Many photos can be found on twitter, Facebook and Instagram)
For the most part I didn’t find it very hard to follow these guidelines. Of course I didn’t set the strictest of rules. For most of the month I had to curb my sugar urges using some variety of sugar substitute. The first half of the month I was buying six-packs of Zevia (cream soda, amazing) and having one a day. Then I started using the little water flavoring the is provided at my office. Then I moved on to half of a packet before finally cutting it out completely. The best part was not eating any cookies or baked goods. I really only had a couple of challenges with coworkers bringing in baked goods. The biggest challenge was myself. I avoided buying lunch at work since sometimes, even when I order chips, I get a free cookie thrown in. So I brought my own lunch which helped. On February 28th, the day before leaving for the Caribbean I ate a cookie and a handful of M&Ms. On March 1 I ate the rest of the M&Ms and since then I’ve been on vacation, and eating like it.
As far as the booze goes that was easy. Way easier than I expected. Aside from the to whisky drinks I had on my one cheat day that I allowed myself, at Borough on the 15th for Valentine’s day, I didn’t have another drink. Not until vacation started in March. I hardly even noticed it. I’ve long since stopped ordering beer at a restaurant just because I’m at a restaurant. I’ve changed from that being the thing to do to really only ordering one if I’m in the mood. I find that I’m generally more than happy with an iced tea or a lemonade. Since that’s a habit that I have already adopted I don’t really see a reason to change that. Of course vacation goes by different rules, but even since we arrived I’ve had plenty of chances to have a beer just for the hell of it and passed. And in most cases I think I’ve been just as happy if not happier than I would have been with one or two beers. Now the island rum on the other hand is hard to pass up, but then again, when in Rome.
In general, and as a result of most of my personal challenges, I’d say the one thing that I continue to come back to as the realization that I most often have is that of awareness. Keeping in mind my general goals as I make my everyday choices impacts my decision making process. I know I’m really successful when I don’t have to put any specific thought into it, when it just becomes my initial reaction then I know I’ve gone down the right path.
Now I have to put more focus into my March objective. I don’t think Statia recognizes national reading month. So far I’ve been so distracted by our excursions, hiking up the volcano, diving into the waves on the Atlantic side, snorkeling, scubaing and relaxing that I’m barely two-thirds of the way through my first book. I have a lot of catching up to do at this point.
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