You know that feeling when you do something you know you shouldn’t do, and then you immediately regret it?
The other day, a friend gave me a piece of cake and a chocolate milk. How thoughtful! Problem was, I had cut sweets out of my diet for an experiment. Still, in that moment of hunger, I went ahead and ate the cake.
- Bite #1: Wow, this tastes delicious.
- Bite #2: Eh, but I probably shouldn’t be eating it.
- Bite #3: Why am I eating this? It’s not that good.
- Bite #4: And it counters everything I know about when to change plans.
So I stopped. . . but still felt bad. And this is just one, fairly trite example.
Since doing what’s right makes me feel so alive, doing the opposite hurts. The largest share of the remorse, in fact, results from not doing what I know I should do.
That action of inconsistency triggers the reaction of remorse. You know that feeling?
