which reminds me of that great Hayley Mills movie Summer Magic, when cousin Julia condescends about the “grind of daily living.”

anyway. the problem is that after i stop indulging in whichever “like to” i’m indulging in, i’m still faced with the same frustrations (whining kids, feeling fat/tired/uncreative) AND i’ve wasted time. so it’s a vicious cycle.

and I agree with Dad Hyatt, that it’s easier to give up bad habits by replacing them with good, rather than just trying to stop and leaving a void.

ok, i’m off to do a little better tomorrow. thanks for your thoughts!

Yup that’s me to a T.

Know exactly what I should do to feel better, be healthier and lose weight (so much so that I could write a book) – but still don’t do it.

I’m not stupid – why can’t I change?

Hey if/when you figure it all out, please let me know ok?

I also stay up way too late and suffer the next day because I am too tired. I stay up late for the same reason… its finally quiet, everyone leaves me alone, it’s so peaceful and I don’t want it to end. Every night I promise myself that I will go to bed early and then I never do.

Then there is sacrifice — to paraphrase C.S.Lewis: “[I can't tell you how long to do only the "happy" things (before succumbing to the "like-to's"), but I can say that it ought to be at least a little bit past comfortable.]” Right? Then the “like-to’s” again have their salutary / refreshing effect.

Then there is the gradual maturation or maybe senescence-ification (I can’t think of the better word becase I suffer from it) in which your two lists will gradually shift. As Lois Bujold has one of her characters say, “[such 'like-to's'] just grow too dull to bother with…[or]…become tedious…not so much the growth of virtue, as simply the replacement of prior vices with an addiction to ['the happy-makers']“.

And lastly, there is senescence itself, in which no matter how much I like a thing (such as staying up late or over-eating) my aging body will not tolerate it as easily, and I am persuaded away from it by aches, fatigue, and indigestion. Look forward to it!

Good luck in your perpetual struggle, as we all must.

I can really relate on the exercise front. I know it’s good for me, makes me feel better, is fun to do if I pop in a movie to do it, and gives Adam time with the kids in the morning. But do I do it? (sigh), no.

Thanks for putting it in perspective!

I’m like you. I like to stay up late, but I do MUCH better if I get to bed at about 9pm. Why do I want to stay up late? It took me forever to realize that it’s because I don’t want to feel like I’m missing out on the fun. Mike stays up all night to do server maintenance and his own work and I don’t want to miss out.

“Missing Out” is a big motivator for me. I never want to miss out because I had to miss out so much when I was a kid. Once I realized that staying up late was just a useless form of that, it became easier to get to bed on time.

Why do you want to stay up late?