Talking Myself into a New Obsession

I've always liked to read and research, from the time I was a young kid. I can remember going to the library and coming home with a large stack of books on a scientific subject. And I had my obsessions.

For a while it was dolphins. I may or may not have read cover to cover every last book the public library had on dolphins.  To this day I have a vivid memory of how real the underwater experiences were to me as I read them. I spent so much time thinking about living under water that in my memory I can still see the water all around me as I imagined it as a kid. I can still remember the thrill of the dolphin rescue stories, and the heart tugs I felt as I read books about trainers who came to intimately know and love their dolphins.

I also may or may not have read every book my library had on raising domestic rabbits, and on Jacques Cousteau and his underwater adventures, and on submarines traveling into the Mariana Trench, and on shells and oceanography and marine biology. My obsession was animals and my specialty was those in the sea.

Because this is how I have always approached life--if you're going to read about something then read every last book--I've never known how to do life any other way. People naturally assume others think like they do, so imagine my surprise on running into a mom who didn't share my passion for reading every child-rearing book on the market. "You mean you haven't read Baby Wise and Child Wise and To Train Up a Child and Shepherding a Child's Heart and Don't Make Me Count to Three and Standing on the Promises? What about Hints of Child Training and Age of Opportunity and Instructing a Child's Heart and Wise Words for Moms and Bringing Up Boys and Future Men and Loving the Little Years and 100 Chores Your Child Can Do at Home?" (I may or may not have known how to put much of what I read into practice, but there are some pretty good ideas in the books in that list.)

But all that to say, I am attempting to channel my old research-obsession-habit into a health, exercise, and no-sugar direction. The age 39 equivalent to reading 14 books on a single subject might just amount to reading 1 actual book with a smattering of articles and YouTube lectures. But even a smattering of research keeps me motivated and anyway, it's fun to take up old habits.

A friend recommended Thinner This Year, with the explanation that even though the title is lame, it is full on scientific evidence and explanation behind the importance of exercise and nutrition, and that it's not just for people who want to become thinner but anyone who wants to be healthier. Instead of telling you what you should do, it explains why. All I had to hear was the word "science" and my interest was piqued. I may or may not have just met my new obsession.

Vows

One month and counting

I am glad that I am doing this year without sugar--most of the time. But I could have picked better timing.

The problem is we went on a trip to celebrate our 20th anniversary and we kept thinking: wouldn't it be fun to bike and get an ice cream cone or wouldn't a dessert be nice tonight. I was wishing I had waited till after our trip to start my sugar fast. After all, celebrations seem to me to be the real reason that sugar exists. The goal of my year-long fast from sugar is not to never eat it again after a year, but to learn to eat it only on special occasions. And a 20 year wedding anniversary is pretty special.


Alas, my dilemma was put into perspective upon reading through the one-year Bible where I was reminded that much more detrimental vows have been made in history than missing dessert. Jephthah said to the LORD:  “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” 
Then Jephthah is devastated to find his own daughter coming through the doors as he returns. And he does sacrifice her!

This passage had always puzzled me because I thought: "Well what did Jephthah think was going to come out of the door of his house? Don't only people come through the doors of houses?" But then I heard a pastor explain that often the first floor of someone's house was used as a barn for the animals and the family lived on the second floor. Makes sense to me. But the likelihood of a person coming out still seems pretty high.

So I am content with my sugar fast and feeling great. I will have many more celebrations in the coming year that will prove challenging, but I do believe I cleared the largest hurdle first.