An Aversion to What's Good for Us
Posted: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
by Terry Mitchell
http://commenterry.blogs.com
It seems strange that we, as humans, seem to be born with a built-in aversion to the things that are good for us. That's probably one of the root causes as to why many of us have chronic health problems and don't live to an optimal age. It would seem that, if anything would motivate us to live right, it would be the prospect of good health and long life. But that's apparently just not the case.
We can't even do stuff that would be beneficial to our career goals. I know I should read more and write more, and I get a great sense of accomplishment from these activities. But sometimes the desire just to sit around and vegetate is too overwhelming, even though I know I'm going to feel guilty afterwards.
Ease, comfort, and pleasure just feel so good in the same way that junk food is oh so tasty. We are so willing to trade deferred but lasting good - that may be a little painful at first - for a little instant (and temporary) gratification. If we let reason (as well as our conscience) be our guide, we would never fall into this trap. What we do doesn't make sense from either a logical or moral standpoint. Yet we constantly concede to our self-destructive propensity. We never seem to learn our lesson.
While I've never been able to break myself of this tendency, I have come up with my own way of managing it. Whenever I finally get started on a positive activity, I try to keep the ball rolling as long as possible and take advantage of the momentum I've built up. That's because I know that, once I stop and give in to the temptations of the negative stuff, it'll be difficult to get started in the right direction again.
I'm like a heavy vehicle - it takes a lot to get me moving, but once I get rolling, I can go for a while. For example, even though I generally release one article or blog post per day, that is not the way I write them. Once I get started writing them, I'll do six or seven of them in a single day. But there are plenty of other days in which I don't write anything.
Anyway, that's all I can do to deal with my personal version of this flaw in the human condition. It looks like I'm going to have to get used to it.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Hi Terry, O so painfully true, its fallen humanity at its best. I'm with you, moving forward for as long and as far as I can. Good article that has me thinking it's time to hop to it, thank God for grace :-) Blessings! TeresaHi Teresa, thanks for commenting!
Terry,You are so right and I think typical of so many people. The good news is you do keep moving once you get started and accomplish a lot in the process.Thanks for some good soul-searching.NancyNancy, thanks for reading and commenting.
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