Epiphany - a moment of great or sudden revelation

[oldladystache]

I've frequently wondered about the difference between me (extremely naturally frugal) and almost everyone else. Why do they go out and buy things they can't afford and don't need while complaining they don't have any money?

Then this morning I was thinking about my difficult attempt to lose weight. I'm not fat, just at the tippy top of normal weight. But I'd like to lose maybe ten pounds. But it's soooooooooooo hard. And I'm soooooooo hungry. Or if I'm not actually hungry the thought of food is on my mind. If only I had something to eat I'd feel so much better.

Hmmm. I'll bet spenders feel the same thing about spending as I do about eating. So now I have a little more sympathy.

[Kitsunegari]

I think you're onto something - the key is realizing that another pair of earrings or another slice of cake will not add anything to your life. The 20th bite of cake will taste like the first one, so you can have 1 or 2 bites and forego the rest, in the same way they don't need a 27th shirt or 11th purse (or 8th shirt and 3rd purse, for that matter)

[Mr Money Mutton Chops]

Yep, it's quite interesting, isn't it. It's really hard to give up something....It's so much easier to never want it, but good luck figuring out how to do it. Good luck with the weight loss :)

[arebelspy]

Interesting observation.

[Gray Matter]

I love how you took a personal experience in one part of your life and used it to find understanding/empathy for others--that's awesome!

And yes, I think it's pretty similar.  I have my own significant weight issues, and am firmly convinced that it's not that thinner people have far more will power than I do, it's that they don't have the same urges and food calling their name all day every day.  I actually have a ton of willpower--can say no to myself thousands of times a day--but by the 3567th time, the willpower runs out.  Which is why it's important, just as with spending, to put structure in place to reduce the number of related decisions one has to make every day.

People who are "naturally" anything often don't understand what it's like not to be naturally that way, so I really commend you for trying to relate.