Just Say NO

I just got back from the last "first" class of the semester and feeling a bit overwhelmed. For those of you that are interested, I'm taking Advocacy & Leadership, Substance Abuse & Addictions, and Professional Community Counseling (basically the laws and ethics of the profession) this semester.

For my Substance Abuse class, one of our assignments is to keep a journal for 11 weeks while we abstain from a list of addictive substances. The list includes: sugar, caffeine, nicotine, chocolate, over the counter medication, alcohol, or illegal drugs.

Well, I'm not addicted to nicotine or illegal drugs. The only OTC drug I take is melatonin to help me sleep on occasion and that's not often enough to really be considered a real temptation for me. I like alcohol and that would be hard to give up, besides I have weddings and birthdays...and really, just no thanks.

So that leaves caffeine, sugar, and chocolate. Sugar is in, well, everything and since I don't normally do my own grocery shopping, I might starve without some amount of sugar. And going without caffeine; that would just be cruel and unusual punishment to me and anyone I interact with. You're welcome.

There you have it, my "addiction" I'm abstaining from in chocolate. I'm not really a "choco-holic" compared to most women people, but I've realized in the last 24 hours since the assignment was given that I eat chocolate at least once a day. Between Fiber One bars, granola bars, Skinny Cow, white fudge covered pretzels (100 calorie packs), chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and the list goes on of packed treats I eat, I eat a lot more chocolate than I initially thought.

Confession: I've already messed up. I ate a Tootsie Roll while getting my bangs trimmed without even thinking about it. Oops? Relapses happen I suppose.

So wish me luck and I'll keep you posted on my cravings, shortcomings, and successes over these next few weeks and months!