Mistakes

Today my yoga teacher told us to find a stranger in class and introduce ourselves by telling them about a mistake we made in 2017. I had never gotten a direction like that. Not in yoga or anywhere else.

The first woman I met told me that she ate too much chocolate in 2017. I almost laughed out loud when she told me that was her mistake. I put my hand on her shoulder, looked her in the eye, and told her that there is no such thing as too much chocolate. Just like there is no such thing as too much cake. She burst out laughing and then I let loose as well. Right there in yoga class.

Chocolate and cake are inanimate objects. They are not good or bad, they are just things and the value we assign to them can turn a joyous event like eating chocolate into a "mistake." 

Not coincidentally, I was talking with another friend of mine who was telling me that people who have never been on a diet wouldn't know what she is going through. I responded by telling her that I didn't know anyone who has never been on a diet. #metoo could apply to diets as easily as it could apply to harassment. It comes down to our bodies and control. It comes down to understanding what we can make of the world through our filters. It comes down to what we allow.

If I let it, the world will dictate my behavior, it will persuade me to allow the judgment of others to steer me in a direction that does not feel good to me. And it happens quietly, covertly, almost without notice. The world will convince me that chocolate is bad. It will convince me that war is good, and that love is not the most amazing thing in the world. It might convince me that money is more valuable than people. But I won't let the world do that.  

This feeds my 2018 Year of No Regrets intention quite nicely, actually.  I won't allow the world to tell me that cake is bad, that chocolate is bad, or that anything else I love is bad. No. I won't. If I did, it would take the joy of the thing away from me, and fill me with regret. Regret over something as lovely as cake? Or chocolate?!?!?  No. Not on my watch. 

This big life. We can put all our effort into fitting in, or all of our effort into finding out who we are, and being that person to the best of our ability. And me, the person I am, loves cake, especially after breakfast. I won't let the world take that from me. I won't let the world convince me that chocolate is a mistake. Not now, not ever. 

One less regret in 2018.

*Sidenote: My mistake in 2017 was getting lost. I have a terrible sense of direction. I get lost weekly, if I had to estimate how often I go the wrong way. Which I embrace fully by allowing myself more time to get lost and find myself if need be. 

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