Chocolate: Don’t Look and You Won’t Be Tempted

This week I bought a 100 gram block of chocolate. The woman at the checkout asked why I didn’t buy the bigger block because it was on sale for the same price. I had considered it, but the simple answer was because I am trying to shed the post-baby weight, and I didn’t want to eat that much chocolate. I was capable of making the rational decision at the supermarket not to eat that much, but I knew if I bought the bigger block and took it home, I’d eat the lot. Once I tasted that sweet, sweet chocolate I knew my self-control would go out the window. 

Two days later, listening to a country song about broken vows, I had an epiphany. 

People often say to me there’s no harm in looking at members of the opposite sex when you’re in a committed relationship. There are various expressions around, like it’s OK to look over the menu as long as you don’t order something. 

My take on that has always been it’s a pointless exercise. I wouldn’t sit and look at a piece of chocolate I had no intention of eating, so why look at a man I have no intention of… ahem. 

Perhaps more to the point, if I was looking at a piece of chocolate, I’d more than likely eat it. 

If I’m tempted, I need to exercise self-control to make the right decision, self-control which is inevitably influenced by emotions (and probably hormones), mood, the day I’ve had, and any other number of factors. If I’m not tempted, then the question doesn’t ever arise. 

So maybe, for some people, there is harm in looking. 

Or not.

What would I know? I’m philosophising about chocolate. 

Give me a block of chocolate, and that'd be me