Celebration and Failure

Great news! I finished my novel. I didn't just finish a first draft, no, I have a completed, polished manuscript and sent it off to my beta readers. I was over the moon! Now I've always been food motivated (does that make me a dog?)

So I went out to celebrate and bought myself a chocolate malt. I bought the small, where as I'd normally by the large, but still. It was a pretty big cheat and set off cravings...so then I ordered pizza, because who cares? It was one day, and I had finished a project I'd been working on for three years! Again, I ate in moderation, only had one piece and two bread sticks. Normally I would've eaten half the bread sticks and half the pizza, so I consider this a small victory. The downside to only eating one piece? I ate the rest of the pizza over the next two days. Ugh.

I know all the tricks about rewards. Reward yourself with a new outfit, or new workout gear, or a pedicure. Yeah, whatever. That didn't work, obviously. Spend $3 on a shake and $7 on pizza and bread sticks, or a new outfit, workout gear, or a pedicure which tallies up to $20+. It's hard to decide justify that expense when you're on a budget. The $3 malt (or whatever small food token I would've picked otherwise) is so much less expensive and in that instant, with money tight, I can't justify shopping and pedicures.