Battle of the Ages

So I had an internal battle yesterday. I mean this thing was a battle for the ages! And normally I have internal battles every day -- do I sleep an extra 15 minutes or wake up? Should I exercise or watch "The Office"? Do I eat Cinnamon Chex or oatmeal for breakfast? Upon facing these internal battles, I must admit that I generally give in to the worst option within 30 seconds. I'm human.

But yesterdays battle proved to be worth two and a half hours of internal arguing. Seriously. I felt like Kronk in "The Emperors New Groove" when he has the angel and the devil on his shoulder. Or maybe I felt like Smeagol from "The Lord of the Rings". . . either way works.

So in my battle I could either be led down the "path of righteousness" and not eat the giant, beautiful, fragrant cookies and mint brownies (from the BYU bakery!) sitting on the desk right outside my office, or I could choose "the path that rocks" and devour three or four of them in two minutes without anyone knowing.

(I should clarify that this isn't just a battle of caloric intake, although that is also valid. I have Celiac Disease, so I cannot eat anything with gluten or I will face possible early death in the future.)

Interesting enough, although I know that eating gluten is extremely detrimental to my health, I am still consistently tempted by gluten-filled food. Since when did pizza and cookies and cupcakes taste so incredible?!

So the battle went like this after walking past the table:

Holy crap that smells incredible. No. No it doesn't. Seriously, I have to have one of those cookies! No you don't, you don't need 300 extra calories! I will work out. No you won't.

*5 minutes later

I haven't had a cookie in forever! But it will kill you. . . *sigh*

*5 minutes later

I need to go to Tara's office and give her a binder. That's just an excuse to walk past the cookies. No, seriously. I need to give it to her.

Walk past the cookies. Stare at them going by. Stop. Peer back around the corner at them again. Gaze longingly at the mint frosting. Shake head.

I should eat my carrots. Ugh, that sounds awful. Let's just sneak a brownie when Michael isn't looking. 

Look quickly outside the door to see if he is next to the cookies. He is. Dang it!

Wait until he leaves. Grab a cookie.

I can't do it.

I put the cookie down and walk away. And although the internal battle continued another two hours until the end of my shift, I knew I was strong enough that I wouldn't eat the cookie. As I walked down the hall to class, I thought to myself: "Lindsey, I am proud of you."

Remember with whatever personal battle you are struggling with, every little battle is a victory. And with every little victory comes the strength to eventually win the war.