October: My official return to goal-setting.

Goal-setting has never been my strong point. If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you know that I’m a perfectionist and once I mess up, I’m done with it. I stepped away from it for a while to reexamine how and why I was setting goals. I learned a lot in that time and I’m hoping I’ll be able to put my new knowledge to use for the following three challenges.

No-Spend October

I tried this as an experiment in August and it went pretty well. In short, the goal is to spend zero dollars during the month of October. However, I go into it knowing I’m not truly going to meet that goal. There will be a day that I really, really need that pumpkin spice latte, or a weekend where I want to split the bill on a dinner date with Erik.

The point is to be more aware. If I tell myself no spending, I’m a lot less likely to go out for coffee every day and pick up fast food for dinner once a week. I don’t go shopping “for fun” and I delete all the e-mails I get for stores/websites I follow, unless it looks like an exceptionally good deal. This summer, I got into the habit of spending very recklessly; this challenge helped bring me back into reality and save the majority of my money.

Two-week sugar fast

Back in June, I participated in Nicole’s Sugar Detox and absolutely loved it… right up until it came time to detox. I lasted two days before I was crying over the fact I couldn’t have a smidge of mustard that was in the otherwise-sugar-free meal my mom was making and, well, that was the end of that. Still, it was a great challenge and I learned so much.

Thankfully, I found out that Stephany – who had also participated in the program – had similar issues with making it through the actual detox. Our solution? Take it a step down to a method that she had used (successfully!) before: only eating foods with less than 2g of sugar per serving. Starting today, we’ll be doing it together for two weeks then taking it in our own direction, depending on how we do and how we feel.

Journal for 31 days

This is a last-minute addition to the list and hopefully I can see it through, especially considering I have a very busy month ahead. In the past year, I’ve had a tendency to lose touch with my feelings and thoughts until they all pile up and bury me. Even if I write only a few sentences some days, I want to clear things out of my mind on a daily basis.

What are you challenging yourself to do this month? Are you a perfectionist? Do you like goals where you do something every single day (like my journaling goal) or over-arching goals (like my no-spend goal)?

If nothing changes, nothing changes.

[Credit to Nicole for that title, which is my new mantra.]

Let’s talk about the fact that in about four days, I’m doing a five-day sugar detox.

Yes. You read that right.

A five-day sugar detox.

Me. The girl who eats a bag of marshmallow circus peanuts nightly and, most likely, other candy and cookies on top of that. The girl who goes shopping and comes home with something sugary every single time. The girl who would live off of vanilla cake batter and frosting if it was nutritionally sound.

I signed up for Nicole’s Sugar Detox program after Vegas for a few reasons. I had been thinking it over before Vegas, but when a bunch of BiSCuits joined the program, I took it as a sign and threw my myself into it. And guess what? It’s the fucking best thing ever.

There have been several times when, as I was reading the different materials, tears welled up in my eyes because finally. Finally somebody understood that it’s an addiction, that it’s not easy to give up, but also, that it’s accomplishable.

My brother and my parents have said a hundred times, “just stop eating sugar, it’s as simple as that.” Why I listen to them, I don’t know. My parents refuse to work on their own unhealthy habits and my brother is some magical unicorn who’s been able to make dietary changes with the snap of his fingers. (Seriously. He had little trouble going to vegetarian to gluten-free to a two-week diet of flounder and rice for an allergy test.)

It was always so disheartening because it isn’t that easy for me. If it were, I would’ve stopped already, no? They convinced me I was lazy and lacked willpower. They dismissed arguments that sugar is addicting or that I need to connect with the mental/emotional ties to sugar before starting to let it go. My brother basically scoffed at the idea that I was participating in a sugar detox that wasn’t just “Step One: Stop eating sugar.”

Even having someone telling me it’s okay, and it’s common, and it’s normal, made me feel ten thousand times better. Dismissing someone and blaming them for things that are not 100% in their control isn’t going to motivate them. Trust me, I’ve experienced it far too often with my family and nine times out of ten, it defeats me and nothing gets accomplished.

The program has also made me more confident to challenge my dependence on sugar because I am armed with information and coping mechanisms, along with a bunch of really specific guidelines (which I love, because I’m a rule-follower). I’m actually looking forward to five days of absolutely no sugar – I feel like I’m up for the challenge, despite having a stressful time at work and missing a weekend with Erik to do it properly.

The truth is, I've realized I'm strong enough to get through life without pacifying every problem with sugar. It's time to flex my muscles and show sugar who's boss.