I’ve been slacking on discussing my CBT exercises lately, so I wanted to tell you about another one I’ve been working on.
Okay, I love popcorn. Love is a strong word, but so is my passion for popcorn. There are few snacks I enjoy more than hot, salty, freshly-popped-in-oil popcorn. I want nothing to do with that microwaved garbage – it has no place in my home. No, I buy my cheap-ass Goya popcorn kernels and cook them up in hot vegetable oil the way it’s supposed to be done.
So what’s the CBT angle? I have to let the popcorn sit in front of me, and not eat it.
Sounds simple, right?
Nope, not with me. Food is both the best and worst thing in my life, and I have an awfully hard time controlling myself around foods I love. Kind of like Warren Beatty with chicks in the good old days. I just have to have what’s in front of me. I can’t say no.
So what I’ve been doing is cooking my popcorn, dropping it into my usual Farberware mixing bowl, and not eating it. No, I have to sit there going f*cking bananas watching my beloved popcorn get cold – even when it’s the special multi-colored popcorn!
It may sound silly, but this type of thing creates an overwhelming anxiety with me, and I don’t start eating the popcorn until my mind relaxes and I’m back on an even keel. Sometimes this doesn’t happen for 10 or 15 minutes – an eternity when my popcorn is getting cold!
I’m finding that all this CBT stuff is actually really working for me, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t hard as hell sometimes.
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That’s an interesting exercise. I’m not familiar with CBT though I’d like to try it. I can’t imagine the anticipation ever leaving if you like something that much and have it in front of you.