Complex Numbers

Self-Control

Congratulations on making it to the last week of the competition! You all should be proud! How do you celebrate your successes? What is your favorite thing to give yourself as a reward?

Yeah, see, that doesn't work for me.

Oh, I've tried it before. "Okay, Waltz, if you finish NaNoWriMo, go out and buy yourself that single-malt scotch you've been wanting." And then I came to the realization that a) I could buy the scotch, regardless; and b) I'm much more likely to write if I drink scotch, so waiting until I'm done writing would be counterproductive.

Okay, (b) there might be a rationalization.

Point is, I have no self-control. If I *had* self-control, I could just do the Thing I'd otherwise try to reward myself for, thus negating the need for any kind of reward. Since I do not have self-control, I practice self-indulgence.

Oddly, I get some things done anyway.

One of the reasons I'm working on weight loss is because I intend to go to Scotland next year around this time. That's when they have the Islay festival, and Islay makes the best single-malt scotch. (That last sentence might be opinion, not fact. But it's a fact for me.) And when I visit Scotland, I don't want to look like, or be, a stereotypical ugly American.

So I guess you could say that my reward for hitting my weight-loss goal would be lots and lots of bottles of single-malt Scotch.

But that doesn't take into account the fact that I plan on going anyway. It's more like a bit of extra motivation than it is a reward.

It probably says a lot about me that I'm not losing weight because of heart issues or potential diabetes, but so I'll feel more comfortable when I drink. I'm okay with that.