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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.