The Lessening
Recently, one of our Coffee Talks went something like this:
Scott: “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I have to cut down on my coffee intake. It's horrible for someone that writes a blog called Coffee Talks.”
Lennart: “How much are you drinking?”
Scott: “Well, I have at least four huge cups each day–but they are really like two regular cups of coffee–and sometimes it’s really five–so I guess around 10 cups a day. The additional problem is I’ve been taking these electrolyte tablets in water also–maybe three a day–and I just found out they have almost two cups of coffee worth of caffeine in each one.”
Lennart: “Hmmm. So like 15 cups of coffee?”
Scott: “Uh…yeah.”
Lennart: “That seems like a lot for someone with a heart condition.”
Scott: “Hahaha. Yeah–so I’m cutting back to one cup of coffee, and I feel terrible.”
Lennart: “Do you think perhaps there is a happy medium between 15 and 1?”
You might think by reading this that Scott is a total drama queen and Lennart seems like a very level-headed, stoic voice of reason–and…well…you’d be right!
But this is how we kind of bounce ideas off each other. Scott usually comes in with something extreme, and Lennart tones it down into some kind of digestible idea for the average human. The end result of this exchange was a focus on “lessening.”
There’s probably something in your life that just kind of keeps creeping up, increasing in amount or frequency to the point where you feel like something dramatic should be done. Maybe it’s the once-a-week chocolate bar that has become an everyday occurence. Perhaps it’s that occasional stop in the morning for a tasty treat from the bakery that has become, in truth, your go-to breakfast. Or is it a black Starbuck’s morning coffee that has turned into one of those whipped-cream, sugary syrup-laden dessert coffee treats, that (by God!) you deserve? It seems we modern humans tend to react in the extreme when we’ve finally had enough: “That’s it! No more Cupcake Creme Frappuccinos with caramel syrup, dark chocolate drizzle with a side of extra whipped cream!”
But as Lennart would say, “Isn’t there a middle ground between a Cupcake Creme Frappuccino every morning and swearing them off for the rest of your life? Yeah–what about just less of them? What about an agreement with a friend to have one a week? The health and fitness industry talks in very dramatic terms: “Burn that fat away!,” “Get ripped!,” “Get jacked!,” “Fast!,” “Cut out all carbs!” It really is almost violent rhetoric. What if we were a bit more gentle with ourselves?
We talk a lot about setting the bar low and being consistent. The idea, after all, is to be good to ourselves. The path to health and fitness should not be extreme and punishing. It should be about a refining of how we take care of ourselves consistently.
So try a bit of “lessening” out today. You probably know very well what you should be eating less of. Try a gentle step in the right direction, and focus on being consistent.
Until next time
The Drama Queen and The Stoic