Join me and give up ____ in 2018

A long time ago – in this galaxy –  gave up Coke [the drink] and chocolate for a year.

Before that i used to drink about 500ml Coke every 2 or 3 days, and me and chocolate!

The Coke was quite easy and after that year i found that i had developed an anti-taste for Coke and even today rarely drink it, except perhaps after a sporting event or at a party if there is nothing else happening. So that was a good thing. Especially if you watch those YouTube videos where a glass of Coke eats a set of dentures during the night, or something like that.

The chocolate i technically didn’t make because i stopped it a week before the end, but 51 weeks of giving up chocolate? Let’s not quibble right. And then we returned to our loving intimate relationship and have not looked back [except maybe in October 2017 Get Fit and Eat Healthy month – i miss you!]

And then a lot of you know that i gave up alcohol for this year, 2017, and you can read more about that over here, but that was basically a discipline thing, to see if i could. And ten months later i can report that i could. And it’s been pretty easy, even when tbV gave me a bottle of Amarula Gold [which i just discovered i liked in December, not being a fan of normal Amarula cos of its overly creaminess] for my birthday in JANUARY… so that has been watching over me all year in my man cave and is ready to be welcomed into the New Year.

What is next?

i met up with an old friend earlier this year in Durban who told me she had been cutting out a different thing in her life for the last three years. This inspired me to continue with my fast, although perhaps not to the same extent as her.

So i am still deciding, but have been saying for most of this year that i have been thinking of giving up chips in 2018.

Speaking of these kinds of chips aka crisps:

Not THIS kind:

Because crisp chips are largely unnecessary to me and i often eat them because they are there. Which is not a great way to live healthy.

So that is my thinking.

BUT, i would love for you to join me…

# Is there something you need to give up – are you addicted to an unhealthy food or substance [drinking, smoking, hubbly, chewing gum, coffee] that might be a great change for you to give up?

# Do you want to see how disciplined you are in an area? One of the ways to see if something is a problem for you is to give it up for a year – if you can’t give something up for a year, perhaps it has too strong a hold on your life? For me, i was able to see super early on that alcohol is not that for me. i do miss it on occasion, and some types more than other [yes, you, Nachtmusiek! Feel free to buy me a celebratory bottle for Christmas!] but there has never been a craving and for the most part i barely noticed. That is good. But maybe there is something you are not sure about. Worth a try. And if it is something you really enjoy then you will enjoy it more when you get back to it.

# Do you simply want to join in for the potential health benefits? You could even choose something a little smaller. i used to drink coffee with two teaspoons of sugar and over a period of time i reduced it by half and then again and then again and now i only have barely half a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee. Not a big deal, but over time, the reduction of sugar into my system is significant. So maybe there is something like that which you’d like to cut down?

But doing things together definitely tends to be a lot easier than doing them by yourself unless of course you are trying to drive one of these:

…in which case it becomes a lot, LOT harder.

So if you are in, let me know, and we can spur each other on in 2018 and maybe even meet up sometime and not eat chips or ____ together. i’ve dropped this early enough to give you a month or two to think about it and then i will write a post at the end of this year or early next year to get the challenge going.

Who is in? And what are you thinking?