I’m sure you remember that little ditty from childhood, “I scream, you scream, we all scream ice cream!”
Even in midlife, several decades after you and your friends would “sing it,” it’s pretty much STUCK up there in your mind.
STUCK.
LIKE.
GLUE.
It’s like that with lots of songs and tunes actually.
More so than rhymes without little tunes.
Funny how that part of your brain works.
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Are you also still stuck on your favorite from childhood? Or have you ventured out and continued to try new flavors and combinations?
I love Mint Chip.
Seriously, I love it.
That’s why I scream for ice cream.
The color.
The texture of smooth with tiny dark chocolate shavings.
The coolness of it all in my mouth.
HEAVEN.
And that’s why I’m writing to you today.
I dared myself last weekend.
We were at the family cottage where there’s a well-known dairy nearby, Kawartha Dairy.
There’s a cow statue outside that was always fun for the kids to climb on.
My dog likes it too.
In the old days, you couldn’t get this Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream in chain grocery stores, like in the town where I live (Now you can find a limited selection in some grocery stores…but not everything).
THIS ice cream was special!
The tradition was to pretty much get to the dairy asap and fill up our freezer at the cottage.
Usually 3 – 5 tubs. You could choose your favorite and have your own tub.
And if no one else liked your selection, you could grab a spoon and eat right out of the container.
That is what typically happened with my beloved Mint Chip.
I guess it’s not that popular.
I have no clue why. I love MINT EVERYTHING.
So…I never had to share it and there was PLENTY for me, always.
I noticed that I had started to think about ice cream as MANDATORY at the cottage.
I also noticed that it was turning into a regular thing to have ice cream every day and/or night at the cottage.
Even my dog, Niko the Newf, was getting in on the action.
Ice cream had become the go-to snack food of choice for EVERYONE.
Hmmmmm.
I didn’t like this.
I mean, I love the ice cream. But I didn’t like the weight gain.
I noticed that I started to believe a few things about the ice cream.
Here’s what was going on up there in my brain:
Thought: You have to eat ice cream at the cottage.
Thought: It’s OK that you eat a lot of ice cream at the cottage because you’re essentially on vacation.
Thought: It’s too hard to stick to trying to lose weight when you’re on vacation.
Thought: You can’t continue to lose weight when you’re out of your home routine of meal planning.
When it comes to your thoughts, it’s pretty easy for you to start thinking they are NOT optional. They can feel like facts.
And when they feel like facts, you aren’t likely to question them.
When we don’t question our thoughts, we don’t live intentionally. We just go with the flow eating ice cream with abandon.
In essence…I scream for ice cream.
Well…not really.
Sometimes I just chow down with the rest of the gang.
But not all the time.
Sometimes I quietly end up in the kitchen and eat the ice cream by myself.
Not with abandon.
But with a bit of shame.
THIS, MY FRIENDS, HAS GOT TO STOP.
That’s what I love about awareness. Remember that 70s sit com, I Dream of Jeannie? The way she used to come out of the bottle?
That’s how I think about awareness. Once you have it, it’s hard to stuff it back INTO the bottle.
I came up with a plan.
I dared myself NOT to have ANY ice cream during the long weekend.
NONE.
Not one bowl.
Not one bite.
Not one lick.
Not one slurp.
I wanted to see if I could do it.
I wanted to watch what thoughts came up.
So, when we got there, the tradition started.
Everyone piled into the van and we headed to Kawartha Dairy in town. My family picked their favorite flavors; as usual, the freezer inside was jam-packed with creamy ice cream goodness. So many to choose from. We brought them to the cottage and loaded up our freezer.
Notice…NO MINT CHIP.
Next, all I had to do was to honor my commitment to myself.
Simple, right?
I made a decision the day before we drove up.
I even told ONE person. A client. She was shocked that I didn’t limit myself to one small bowl.
I wanted to prove something to her and to myself.
The power of commitment.
The power of goal-setting.
The power of ME.
So the ice cream started flowing on Saturday.
I watched.
Oddly enough, I didn’t really desire it.
I told my family that I wasn’t having ice cream this weekend.
They looked at me strangely.
They think I’m weird anyway, so what’s the big deal about adding another thing to the pile of things they they make fun of me for, right?
I kept busy while they were slurping away.
I noticed what a difference it made to have made the decision not to eat ice cream ahead of time.
No drama.
I just did what I told myself I was going to do.
I remembered that the world was not running out of Mint Chip.
I could have it another time.
And that’s what I’ll do.
I will decide when I want to eat ice cream at the cottage next, but I will make the decision in advance.
My plan is to stick to my weight loss strategy on my terms.
I’m in charge.
Not the ice cream.
Not the lack of routine.
Not the summer plans.
Me.
That’s what I encourage you to do too.
Notice what thoughts you’re thinking that you’ve started to believe as facts.
Slow things down and see what’s going on up there! Mindfulness can add so much to your life.
I’m here for you when you need help.
Join my free Facebook Group, Regret-Proofing 101 to find a warm community of like-minded women who are ready to live more intentionally in all parts of their lives. We would love to see you on the other side!
