Why do we do things that we know make us feel... yucky??

Really... why? We all do it. And sadly, we do it all. the. time. Things that we know aren't good for us or that will make us in some way feel... just... yucky. Today for example... I was having a great day of girl chat with my Mom, my Auntie Paula who is basically Mom #2 in my book, and one of my awesome cousins that I don't EVER get to see. My Aunt and I are both recovering from surgery at the moment, but were so happy to spend the day in such great company that you wouldn't have known how much pain we were in, lol. Anyway... she offered me a pumpkin pop tart. Yum, right? I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin anything! So of COURSE I said yes! And I did this knowing fully well that every single solitary time I eat a pop tart... I get violently ill. They just don't agree with me... ever. But I said yes. I ate it. And spent the next 20 mins in the bathroom throwing up. Awesome. I did the same thing when I went out to dinner with Josh. For those of you that don't know me personally... Josh is my amazing boyfriend, who I can't imagine my ordinary, average, everyday, amazing life without <3 I'm sure you'll hear lots of ramblings about him later, but that's the short of it! haha! ;) But back to my point. I did the same thing when we went out to dinner not too long ago. I can't do fried stuff either. It makes me feel queasy and gross and more often than not, I'm praying to the porcelain god and losing my lunch within minutes. I know this. I know this well. But that didn't stop me from downing several cheesy waffle fries from his plate. Ugh!

I know you guys are with me right? Eating too much or something you know you shouldn't eat... then you're paying for it breaking your ass in the gym and feeling guilty for every single bite. Yucky! And we do it with other areas of our life too. It's not just food. We stay in relationships we know are no good for us. Yucky! We stay in jobs that don't make us happy or fulfilled. Yucky! We keep friendships with people that don't make us feel good. Yucky! Or even simple things like hitting the snooze button one too many times, knowing that it's going to make you late and you spend what could be an otherwise normal morning getting ready and turn it into a complete cluster fuck, forgetting your lunch, leaving your ID badge on the counter, speeding and almost getting into an accident on your way to work. Yucky! Going out to dinner with girlfriends before payday when you know you don't REALLY have the money for it, and spend the rest of the week stressing about how you're going to run out of gas if you don't fill up soon. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!! Why do we do it? We're all smart people. We know there will be consequences for our actions. We aren't just oblivious beings, aimlessly roaming around the planet unaware of the things we do and how they make us feel. So WHY purposely do things that we know give us the yuck factor?

I read an article a while back about this subject. It basically said that there are four key things that we need to do, if we want to stop doing things that we know are bad for us.

1.)  Be aware of what we're doing or what we are about to do and how that will make us feel

2.)  Decide what we should do instead, and what would make us feel better

3.)  Having another way to release whatever tension or pull we feel to make us do the bad thing in question. Otherwise, our primal instincts will kick in and completely overrule any good decision making we could do

4.)  Having some kind of system in place to keep us on track and not let us revert to old/bad habits

By utilizing those 4 rules, tools, whatever you want to call them... you learn to harness your own power, attention and you learn to truly be present in the moment.

I'm definitely going to start implementing this in my life. Starting... NOW! Baby steps first. Let's start with no more pop tarts and french fries, shall we?  Haha! Then I can start working on the good stuff! :)

I'd love to hear any experiences you guys have had with this kind of thing. Are you someone that sabotages your own success in some way? What are your thoughts?