S

February    13th

PLEASURE    CAN BECOME  PUNISHMENT

“Whenever   you get an  impression  of  some    pleasure,   as  with    any impression, guard   yourself    from

being   carried away    by  it, let it  await   your    action, give    yourself    a   pause.  After   that,   bring   to  mind

both    times,  first   when    you have    enjoyed the pleasure    and later   when    you will    regret  it  and hate

yourself.   Then    compare to  those   the joy and satisfaction    you’d   feel    for abstaining  altogether.

However,    if  a   seemingly   appropriate time    arises  to  act on  it, don’t   be  overcome    by  its comfort,

pleasantness,   and allure—but  against all of  this,   how much    better  the consciousness   of

conquering  it.”

—EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION,     34

elf-control is a difficult thing, no question. Which is why a popular trick from dieting might be
helpful. Some diets allow a “cheat day”—one day per week in which dieters can eat anything and
everything they want. Indeed, they’re encouraged to write a list during the week of all the foods they
craved so they can enjoy them all at once as a treat (the thinking being that if you’re eating healthy six out
of seven days, you’re still ahead).
At first, this sounds like a dream, but anyone who has actually done this knows the truth: each cheat
day you eat yourself sick and hate yourself afterward. Soon enough, you’re willingly abstaining from
cheating at all. Because you don’t need it, and you definitely don’t want it. It’s not unlike a parent catching
her child with cigarettes and forcing him to smoke the whole pack.
It’s important to connect the so-called temptation with its actual effects. Once you understand that
indulging might actually be worse than resisting, the urge begins to lose its appeal. In this way, self-
control becomes the real pleasure, and the temptation becomes the regret.