Indulgence STOP – NO GIVE ME MORE?

Indulgence Defined

: the behavior or attitude of people who allow themselves to do what they want or who allow other people to do what they want
: the act of doing something that you enjoy but that is usually thought of as wrong or unhealthy
: something that is done or enjoyed as a special pleasure

Interesting. I took a few interesting points from it. Indulgence is Reasonable. Indulgence is Expected. Over-indulging has consequences, and labels. Under-indulging must be a ‘thing’ too right?

How is Indulging Reasonable

The last part of the definition states that:

something that is done or enjoyed as a special pleasure 

I LOVE THAT, and I can totally relate.

• Chocolate.
• A spa-day.
• Glass of wine, after the kids go to bed.
• Taking a random Friday off from work, to create a spur-of-the-moment, 3-day weekend.
• You, your favorite pint of ice-cream, and your favorite movie, all meeting on the couch!

We all MUST indulge. Sometimes on some things, or else, what’s the point of living!

Indulging is Expected…..

….Essential, DOWNRIGHT AMERICAN (whatever that means)! It’s RIGHT! The first part of the definition states that:

 : the behavior or attitude of people who allow themselves to do what they want or who allow other people to do what they want

Now this is curious. There is something to this ‘behavior and attitude’ part of the definition that sticks out to me.

1. I guess, if we eat ‘too-much’ chocolate, we may find ourselves a lot larger than we were in high-school.
2. If we have ‘too many’ spa days – we might be considered “high-maintenance”, vein, or conceited.
3. If we have ‘too many’ glasses of wine, we might earn ourselves a fractured relationship or two.
4. Taking ‘too many’ days off could land us in the unemployed line.
5. Your favorite ice-cream, couch, movie meeting Becomes your Monday-Friday, 7pm-11pm routine.

Who is to say what’s ‘too much’, or ‘too-many’? There’s got to be an indulgence threshold. One that’s Reasonable.

Over-Indulging is…….

Over-indulgence takes shape. It becomes SOMETHING. Common names we know….Common names we shun – yes SHUN. Shunning still goes on. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s useful.

Seriously, when you over-indulge you might find yourself named as one of the following things:

1. An Alcoholic
2. Drug Addict
3. Obese
4. A Diabetic (Type 2)
5. At risk of Cardiac Arrest (Heart Attack)

Under-Indulgence. What’s that? 

That’s the other part of the definition of indulgence:

the act of doing something that you enjoy but that is usually thought of as wrong or unhealthy

Do you have a habit of NEVER, take any time for yourself? Maybe you look at doing something that’s exclusive, to you, as WRONG. You feel guilt.

You watched members of your family toil away for years. Never taking a vacation, or days off. You thought of that as so, admirable.

Did you ever think of what they may have ‘missed out’ on? Traveling, going out dancing, sleeping in, NOT folding laundry for the family for one weekend, maybe just having a ditch day from work, life, or school?

My wife and daughter did this. We try to make a habit of it. 

I think of my grandmother. I know I would have liked to see her indulge a bit more. I still always tell my mother, she should do some things for herself.

I also watched my grandfathers. Both men, worked hard during their lives. One a longshoremen, the other a auto-mechanic.

I don’t know that they ever did any traveling, ate at any upscale restaurants, or went out and ‘painted the town-red‘. They both got up everyday, grabbed whatever was in the fridge, went to work, provided for their families, never complained, day-after-day. YEAR AFTER YEAR. They never took ‘time off’, and Never complained. Admirable.

They all may have taken the occasional trip out-of-town. Most often to attend either a wedding, or unfortunately, a funeral for family members, that lived lives almost identical to their own. Lives that went fast, no indulgence, or over-indulgence, only to have their funerals attended by those same types of people.

Under-Indulgence, is more like Never-Indulgence. We all leave this place. There has to be some indulgence, Reasonably Right?

Under-Indulgence

Can lead to……well, you’d never know would you? You haven’t really Reasonably taken advantage of any of life’s indulgences.

Or worse:

• You know how much you love photography, and it’s been at least 10 years since you’ve taken out your camera.
• You love to swim, but you’ve spent all of your extra money on your cable bill, instead of getting a pool membership at the local gym.
• You love cheesecake, but you’ve never been to the Cheesecake Factory.

There are some things we do too much of – Over-Indulgence. There are things we don’t do enough – Under-Indulgence.

Are you over-indulging, or under-indulging. Either way….that’s a bit UnReasonable.

The phrase: “Everything in moderation”, comes to mind. That saying is usually synonymous with the subtraction of things. Less of this, or reducing that. Sometimes we don’t look at the Reasonable moderation of actually indulging ourselves.

Life is short. Do not indulge in excess. Do not deprive yourself either.

Morbidly put….we’ll all be gone sooner or later.

I’d like all people to have all the good, that they can Reasonably handle.

What will you do to be More AND Less Indulgent.

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Cheers Team Reason!