Willpower & Restraint

Not only did I find new dishes over the weekend at Marshall’s, but in other errand-running matters, I had to go to The Mall.  The prices at the mall are a little different than Marshall’s. So I had to exercise some willpower and restraint.

I went to the mall to return the facial cleansers I bought at MAC.  I just wasn’t loving them and I felt like they were irritating my skin and making me break out a bit, so I returned them.

I exercised restraint and didn’t buy a single new item of MAC!

I probably don’t “need” any, though.

And I exercised some willpower by walking right past the multi-story Pottery Barn

And Nike

I didn’t want to be a total “tourist” and keep on snapping pictures of storefronts.  I still didn’t bring my DSLR out in public.  I took all these storefront and mall pictures with my point and shoot. But suffice to say, Anthropologie, True Religion, Betsey Johnson, Godiva, James Perse, Barney’s, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, just to name a few, were calling my name.  It took some willpower and restraint to not even walk into them.

I did walk into Bath & Body Works

I picked up this B&BW body spray called Secret Wonderland as an exchange/swap-out for a scent I had previously accidentally bought two of.

As a footnote, I love the new Carried Away scent I mentioned here.

After all that retail restraint, I came home and ate chocolate.

Raw Vegan Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

From my last post on Dressing for Winter Workouts, it was great to hear what you wear and some of your favorite gear picks.  I love hearing what everyone else wears and your go-to items.

Dessert: Special K Bars

Chocolate, nut butter, sweet, gooey and chewy, dense, thick.  They have all the elements of a perfect food for me.

I could easily eat these until I get sick.  I cut myself off at two per day.  I try to use some restraint with these.

Questions:

1. Anything special or exciting going on for you this week?

Nothing special for me.  Work, parenting, running a household, and a few appointments throw in to create extra driving around for me to keep my on my toes, but nothing special or too exciting.

2. Do you consider yourself to have willpower and restraint?

As it pertains to food choices, I really don’t like to talk about food in terms of willpower and restraint.  I believe it implies that a choice is “bad” when in reality, it’s just a choice.  Life, including food, is a big series of choices.  And that’s the beauty of eating, you get to make new choices every three hours or so with your next meal/snack.  See Item 3 in this post for more info.  So I do sort of cringe when I hear people say, “Oh it takes willpower to avoid Xyz Food.”   Yes, but really it’s just food.  Unless it’s a pan of Special K Bars.  Then maybe a little “willpower” isn’t such a bad thing.

As it pertains to spending money at the mall, shopping, or online ordering, I do love to spend money but I can exercise restraint and willpower like nobody’s business.  Sure, I would like to buy things, but I really want to pay off my credit card debt more than I want a new sweater.  And since I am so close to paying it off, it’s easy for me to walk in, walk out, and not buy a thing.  I can flip a switch and not think twice.  But look out, when I flip that switch ‘on’, I single handedly am an economic stimulus package all unto myself.

How are you with willpower and restraint?  Any thing you wish you had more willpower or restraint with?  Or less?