Will Power

How do you develop will power?  Why do some people seem to have it naturally, while the rest of us dream about the day when it will suddenly come to us?  I used to think I had it.  I was a good student.  I went to school every day.  I did my homework.  When I went to work, I actually worked all day, even when the supervisor wasn't watching.  I only called off when I was sick.  As a mother, my kids came first.

However, I've never been able to stick to an exercise program.  I've managed it for a few days, even a couple of weeks.  Exercise helps you lose weight, tones those sagging muscles, gives you more energy to do the things you want to do, even makes you feel better.  I've read all the literature.  I've even experienced it,so why have I used my exercise machine as a clothes rack, buried my exercise videos, and my swimming pool continues to go unused? 

I realize part of the problem is that I'm not a creature of habit.  In fact, I detest habit.  I refuse to wash on Mondays, or clean on a specific day of the week.  Spontaneity seems like so much more fun, until I realize I'm out of underwear and the dust is an inch thick, but then I take care of those chores.  Not so with exercise. When I stand in front of the mirror surveying my spare tire and sagging arms, I tell myself to go exercise.  Not happening.

If this was my only lack of self control, I'd probably consider it a phobia and move on, but I also have a problem with chocolate.  I hear it calling to me, and my fat cells screaming to be nourished by this ambrosia. I have no trouble resisting dessert as long as it's not chocolate.  (In my opinion, white chocolate does not even qualify as chocolate, and therefore not a temptation.  Only real brown chocolate, the darker the better, sets up the siren call.)  My husband keeps me supplied in chocolate, insisting that withdrawals are too dangerous.  I suspect he means dangerous for him.

Someday, I'm going to eat right, exercise, and eliminate chocolate from my diet.  In addition, I'll write at least eight hours every day, clean house regularly, and keep the weeds out of my yard.  Just as soon as they find out how to bottle this stuff called will power.