PHOTOGRAPH: LAURA DOHERTY. *M MURAVEN ET AL, SELF-REGULATION AND DEPLETION OF LIMITED RESOURCES, ‘PSYCHOLOGICAL BULLETIN’, 2000; **M OATEN, LONGITUDINAL GAINS IN SELF-REGULATION FROM REGULAR PHYSICAL EXERCISE, ‘HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY’, 2006; ***THE PHYSIOLOGY OF WILLPOWER: LINKING BLOOD GLUCOSE TO SELF-CONTROL, ‘PERS SOC PSYCHOL REV’, 2007
With the holidays approaching, we may anticipate the indulgence with glee, but fast-forward to 3 January – am I the only one who never wants to see another Toffifee again? Beating myself up with guilt is not how I want to ring in 2017.
So, this year, I’ve decided to see the beauty in this ‘season of celebration’ as just that: a celebration! There is an abundance of meaning attached to the feasts we prepare; cosy nights in with loved ones, the clinking of glasses at parties. To deny indulgence at this time of year would be torture. We don’t indulge like this all year round; ‘Christmas comes but once a year’, after all. And research says that, with deprivation, we set ourselves up for failure.