Stage Two - Day Eight

I was a bit nervous about today. The ‘diet’ moves into a new phase this week where I have to focus on my personality and how I behave towards other people.

The idea for day eight was to be more assertive in situations where I’d normally by unassertive, and vice versa. I realised that I’m actually quite assertive with my close friends, so today I tried to be a bit quieter and listen to the conversation without stamping all over it with my opinions. When I thought about it, this wasn’t as scary as I initially expected, but – even then – I found it quite difficult.

I had to bite my tongue at some moments when I was itching to say stuff about feminism or the emerging church or whatever. But the different way people have reacted has been interesting. Dave, for one, told a really funny story (about a pig eating his cousin's sunglasses) in the space previously occupied by my views. So this has encouraged me not to be so vocal all the time. Or – well – like the book says, to become more ‘behaviourally flexible’.

I wish there were some weighing scales around here so I could see if this is continuing to shift the pounds, despite the fact that I still can’t resist some of the stuff that would be strictly off-limits on your average diet (albeit in smaller portions than usual). There are moments, still, when I surprise myself by not having cravings for things, including Diet Coke and chocolate, my two big demons.