Environment

A double whopper. Wait! Wait! Before I get to that, we may need a little backstory:

I don't eat fast food, but before anyone assumes that's hubris talking, the reason is environmental, not a heroic force of will. I grew up in a small New England town where the nearest McDonald's was 45 minutes away. Even in high school, my mother wouldn't let me drive to McDonald's because the town had a stoplight - seriously, I'm not kidding. Rather than fuse all my memories with a side of nuggets, my friends and I got breakfast served around the clock at P&H Truckstop. Now, when other people crave salty fries and a Coke in those wistful moments, I want scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and thick slices of hot, buttered toast. See, the nuggets suddenly sound a lot more reasonable.

Lately, the urge to eat a Double Whopper has been oddly persistent (Yes, I know that's Burger King) though it only happens randomly and without urgency. It's been like a faint waft of Drakkar Noir that I can't identify immediately, but that stabs me with a sharp pang of awkwardness because it reminds me of every boy in high school. It all happens in a split second and then disappears. And the only time I can remember eating - yes, a DOUBLE whopper - was when I was pregnant and oh so desperate to stop feeling hungry for five minutes that I threw 1,061 calories at the problem.

To be clear, the fact that I vaguely crave one now doesn't mean I actually want one (or that I'm pregnant). It's probably something hormonal that my brain locked down tightly with 'A Whopper will fix it,' and so here we are. It's a reminder of how powerful our brain is and how much our past experiences try to offer us solutions, even when those solutions are entirely misguided. Still, I have the opportunity, means, and motive(ation) to commit the crime - why don't I? I'd like to say, 'Because I know It'd feel yucky,' which is true, but it's probably because the only Burger King I know is in the mall and I'm only in the mall when I'm going to the gym. In a way, this means that 'Environment' wins again.

I was thinking about these influences when I watched 'Live to 100: Secret of the Blue Zones' last night. The lifestyle that takes you to 100 doesn't take extraordinary effort but, instead, setting intentional priorities to build into your environment. And I live in one of those steep, walking cities like Sardinia. I make it a habit to walk wherever I go and haven't had a car in seven years. Each day, I walk my son from the bus to his school, the school to the mall, where I go to the gym, and then from the mall to home. In October, I walked 124 miles (47 hours and 24 minutes), according to Google Maps Timeline. It isn't because of willpower but because of how my life is set up. Everything about my day nudges me in healthy directions. I didn't just pick a goal; I built solid guardrails which save me frequently.

To build in nudges or create guardrails, consider this episode from Katie Milkman of Choiceology. Or ponder this episode that discusses how the emotional climate can affect you.