Road Trips and Desire

"You stay on your side and I'll stay on my side" my sister said after firmly pressing her finger along the vinyl seat of our minivan on the way to Colorado from Wisconsin. 

This was easy for most of the trip since my dad had MacGyvered a way to set up a TV and VCR by running a split cable off the cigarette lighter. (My dad was a genius, still is). But some of the time, we wanted to listen to our music. Remember the hours you spent making all those mixtapes? 

My older, cooler sister in her collar up Benetton shirt was also a genius. Her mixtapes were the best. Way better than mine. I likely had some Milli Vanilli crap (blame it on the rain and their lip syncing), but she had the good stuff cut perfectly.

Guns N Roses, Def Leopard, U2. 

I would beg her to switch tapes and she usually said no while pushing me back over to "my side", but every now and then I could listen for a few precious minutes. U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Desire" were my favorites. 

Desiiiiiiiire. (sing along here).

This made me think about our desires around food and the arbitrary lines we design to try to prevent ourselves from getting what we want. We draw imaginary lines in the sand and tell ourselves that anything that crosses that line is too much. It's not normal. It's not necessary. It's out of control. You need to stay on your side of the van's vinyl with your Sony walkman. 

Screw the lines. It's time to erase them.

Desire is part of life, especially when it comes to food. Denying your desire is just going to put you back on the endless loop of restricting and bingeing.  Desiring something is enough of a reason to eat it. You don't need to justify your desires. You just need to listen to them and respond. 

If you don't listen to your desires you're very likely restricting and your body is going to find a way to get you to respond, aka binge. 

Stay on your body's side. Your body has your back. Your job is to resist the desire to draw the lines and control your food.

Remember, your body is the real genius.

PS. I still want my money back from the Milli Vanilli concert I attended. 
PPS. I'm going to teach you how to feel at peace with your desires in my upcoming course this fall. Hit reply to get on the waitlist.