No Chocolate For A Year- DID IT!

Just some follow-up thoughts on my "not eating chocolate for a year" challenge...

Was it hard? Yes!

Was it worth it? Yes!

Will I do it again? No! Life is too short to live without chocolate!

The whole experience really ended up teaching me a lot. A few things include:

• I can do hard things!
• I can have self control, especially when it comes to my appetite.
• The feeling of improving my self discipline was pretty awesome! Self discipline is SO hard. But honestly, it's helped be more disciplined in other areas of my life besides not eating chocolate. This has probably been the biggest benefit of this challenge
• I have so much more empathy for people who have severe addictions and are trying to quit them.  I had dreams at least once a month, usually twice about eating chocolate. A lot of times I would eat a whole plate of chocolate chip cookies in my dreams! It was pretty ridiculous. The addiction was/is REAL people.
• Doing something like this really makes celebrating your birthday way more fun! I was way less focused on getting a year older, and way more excited about the prospect of eating chocolate!

What was the first chocolate I had after the challenge?

- Dan made me chocolate chip pancakes for my birthday. I had told him that's what I wanted the morning of my birthday, but it was interesting that when I sat down in front of those giant chocolate chip pancakes, the first thing I felt was fear! I was not expecting that! I had just told myself no for so long, that it wasn't so easy to switch to yes. Which surprised me! But I did eat the pancakes, and they were delicious!

Do I still like chocolate after not eating it for a year?

- You betcha! But it's definitely not in the same way. I can taste the wax WAY more than I ever could. The only "cheap" chocolate I've liked is Kit Kats. I ate a Reese's and it was NASTY! Which is shocking because I LOVED Reeses before. Apparently I'm a bit of a chocolate snob now and can only eat Ghirardelli and Lindt truffles...

Did eating chocolate make me sick?

- Yeeeeaaaahhhh. It did. So after my mound of chocolate chip pancakes, I came to work to find a bag of chocolate doughnuts on my desk, and two packages of brownies. We had chocolate cake with lunch. By about 3:30, I was SICK. Mind you, I didn't eat any of the brownies, and only had one doughnut, and tiny slice of cake. But don't worry, I still had my birthday party with a chocolate fondue fountain and a 16 layer chocolate cake to go home to :) Yeah it was delicious and awesome and feeling like crap was totally worth it!  But I still have a pretty low chocolate tolerance.

My friend Shan made this cake. IT WAS DIVINE. Anything she makes is heavenly! In fact, if you live in Cache Valley, you should check out her blog and order some meals from her! You'll never go back! http://mealsbyshan.blogspot.com/

I think every person should try doing something like this once in their life. It really was a fun, challenging experience and I feel like a stronger person for doing it!

Dear 18 Year Old Me,

I've been seeing a lot of pictures posted on social media of college and high school graduations in the last month. Also, for some reason after 8 years of being graduated from high school (wow 8 years sounds FOREVER ago), someone finally took the initiative to create a "Morgan High Class of 2007" Facebook group... talk about a blast from the past! The combination of these things has caused me to reflect a lot on my life since that momentous occasion of being 18, newly graduated, and thrust into the world. I thought I would be fun to write a letter to my former 18 year old self, now that I have a little perspective :)

Dearest Meg,

Congratulations on graduating from Morgan High School's class of 2007! It will be a whirlwind of feelings for the next few months, but don't worry- life is really only going to get better, and busier. There are so many things I want to tell you about our life, but first I feel I should tell you the things you definitely did right!

It was definitely the best decision EVER to never kiss a boy in high school. Trust me, you'll never regret it! Also, even though the summer before senior year pretty much was the worst thing ever when you took those summer classes, it was totally worth it because you'll graduate from college when we're 20. And not paying tuition or having to study for one more final, will be the best thing of your life! So good job and way to power through. 

So nobody ever told you when you decided to moved to Logan and go to Utah State, that it was winter 9 months out of the year there. Just drop the money up front and buy a full body parka, similar to the picture below. Because the inside of your nose will actually freeze, your boots will never keep the snow and water out, and you should be aware of seasonal depression because the sun never shines. Just go to the Rage Salon on Tuesdays and Thursday when they have $2 tanning, and remind your body what warmth and light feels like. You'll survive. (Because you're not just going to live there 3 years like you planned, it's going to be more like 6.5 years.... yeah I know... mentally prepare now)

Also, even though you really like your major in Public Relations, you may want to seriously consider teaching kindergarten. Because we really didn't think through how completely awesome it would be to have summers off... just saying. But you will meet some of the most amazing people in your PR major who will be life friends... so the choice is yours! (But seriously... summers off... think about it...)

Now this part is very important, so PAY ATTENTION! The best things that will ever happen to you will come from making your own path. Without spoiling too much, you're going to be living in Atlanta and going on a mission, and you will be changed so much for the better. So don't be scared! Also, your second year of college you are going to live in an apartment with 5 girls you've never met before. Again, one of the best things that will ever happen to you. Venturing into the unknown, really seems to work out for us! (also, can we talk about how hilarious this picture is please?!)

Our leadership skills will really be awful... you might want to read more books about that kind of stuff and save us some grief (because I still haven't read this book...)

Make sure you become a true Aggie, and become one with someone you don't know. It makes a way better story! (and no, this isn't a pic of us!)

But seriously, whatever you do, GO ON A MISSION! Go on a mission, go on a mission. Did I mention, GO ON A MISSION!

I'm sure you're dying to know when and who you marry, but trust me, you wouldn't even believe me if I told you!  Just know that he's even better than you imagined. And that you'll finally get the sisters you've always wanted. 

Well this is probably enough to overwhelm your 18 year old mind for now. And to tell you the truth, this is about all I've got figured out. You know what to do, just make it happen!

Don't forget to love ourself.

Love, Megan

PS- this is our favorite show. Love it. Cherish it. Get all seasons of it.