It has recently come to my attention that I am no longer the same weight I was when I left Nigeria. This is critical because my brother marries in a couple of months and as I will only be arriving a few days to the wedding, it is important that I can fit in my measurements from before I left, in order to allow the tailors to make my dress before I arrive. So I must begin to live with this goal in mind. This post however is not about weight loss/ gain. It is about the kinds of little habits that lead us into these kinds of frenzies – in my case, it is my love for Coca-Cola.
I have not had the time to share about my time in Togo but while I was there in 2021, I managed to drink approximately 18 litres of Coca-Cola over a 6 week period. I have refused to consider what the implications of that are on my health because all I will feel is a shame, and for what? Anyway, I have a really sweet tooth, and every now and again, I can do the “cold turkey” things where I completely stop the consumption of any processed drinks but much like my lessons on new year resolutions, I find that perhaps it is best to pick up new habits to overtake old habits.
Before you begin to assume that I have found my habit to replace this love for Coca-Cola, let me assure you, I have no clue how I will meet my weight goal but I have recently learnt something from CS Lewis which I must share. Lewis argues in Mere Christianity in his chapter on Chastity that the real reason people do not even consider trying to be Chaste is that they have not realized that they “have to” be. When you feel like something is an option, you apply yourself less but when it is a necessity, you find yourself making an effort to do it. In my case, I think my refusal to ponder the consequences of excessive sugar on my health are my attempt to avoid all the reasons to “have to” cut down my sugar. To this end, my advice to ‘myself’ and anyone trying to get rid of a bad habit is, beyond recognising that the bad habit must go, one must consider the reasons why they “have to” pick up the more positive habit.
One of the things I have spoken about on multiple occassions in the past few months is my desire to live a “full life”, to find exciting adventure in events, friendships, dance, music, writing, reading, work, and church. While I have been doing these, I finally figured why it has been so impressed on my mind, it is because I am by myself and it is very easy to be depressed when there are lots of empty or monotonous slots in one’s life. We must do better, fill your life with little good habits!
