• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • A1Cs
  • Contact
  • Archives
  • Taming The Tiger
Scott's Diabetes

Scott's Diabetes

Helping you see your strength

But I Already Spent That…

June 18, 2010 By Scott K. Johnson 14 Comments

Have you ever thought of your willpower as a limited resource?  Like money?  You get a certain amount each payday, but once you spend what you’ve got, it’s gone!

During the day I do pretty good.  I wake up refreshed and restocked with a big bucket of willpower.  Then diabetes drinks it up.  I know that eating big means harder to manage blood sugars, or crazy amounts of exercise (which can work like magic to help manage BG’s).  So I give up a cup of willpower and eat a breakfast that I can manage.  Repeat this process of surrendering precious willpower over and over, throughout the day.  Every day.

Most evenings, I’m all tapped out.  I’ve spent all my willpower already.  I have trouble making good decisions.

There is a really great story out there called “The Spoon Theory“, written by Christine Miserandino (ButYouDontLookSick.com).  It is a wonderful expression of what it can be like to live with some sort of chronic condition or disability.  Talking about my willpower makes me think about this story.

So I have trouble with food in the evenings because my bucket of willpower has been drained dry, and/or I’ve spent too many of my spoons being “good” earlier in the day.  I end up making bad eating decisions and get really sloppy with my insulin.  I eat more than I need, swing crazy wild with my blood sugars, usually landing on running way too high for the entire night.  I deal with a lot of guilt, both for eating too much AND for having bad less than ideal blood sugars for the entire night.

There are a few articles out there that talk a little bit about willpower being a limited resource:

  • Three Effective Ways to Enhance Your Willpower, from zenhabits
  • Willpower Is Limited, But Can Grow with Practice, from npr.org
  • Ego depletion, from wikipedia.org

But I have to say that none of it seems very authoritative.  As if it is a pretty new idea that hasn’t been thoroughly tested.  Or maybe I just don’t have the patience to read through enough of it.  There is also a recurring idea that willpower is like a muscle, and can be trained to be stronger through practice.

When I first thought about that idea, I didn’t agree with it.  I figured I had years and years of practice.  My willpower muscle should be RIPPED!

But writing this blog post, I thought a little more about exercise and how exercise works.

Let’s say that I can do four push-ups.  After that fourth push-up I feel that I’ve done all I can, my muscles are spent, and I can’t do anymore push-ups.

If all I ever do is four push-ups, even if I do those four push-ups every single day, my brain is trained to think that four is all I can do, and I’m not really gaining any strength.  I’m not pushing my muscles to do any more than four.

The entire purpose behind training and exercising (for gains) is to push your body past its comfort point.  That is how you get stronger.  That is how muscles develop and grow more powerful.

Maybe the idea of exercising my willpower is not such a bad idea after all.  It is here where the idea departs a bit from “The Spoon Theory“, in that if I work at it, I can increase my willpower and self-control.  Maybe I’m also learning to make my spoons do more, or to “spend” my spoons wiser.

Filed Under: Blog Posts, Resources Tagged With: Exercise, Spoon Theory, Will Power

guest
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

14 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Primary Sidebar

Image of Scott K. Johnson
Scott K. Johnson

About Scott

Patient voice, speaker, writer, advocate. Living life with diabetes and telling my story. Patient Success Manager, USA for mySugr (All opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent the position of my employer).

Diagnosed in April of 1980, I recognize the incredible mental struggle of living with diabetes. Read more…

Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

Tweets by scottkjohnson

Footer

DISCLAIMER & POLICIES
I am not a medical professional. Nothing on this site is medical advice and is not meant to replace medical advice. Contact your doctor for questions about your health. All opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily represent the position of my employer

Here are my advertising policies, disclosures & guidelines, privacy information, and terms & conditions.

  • Fighting diabetes fatigue article on diaTribe.org
  • The Candy in My Pocket with John Robert Wiltgen
  • Why is my hand so sticky?
  • He was the best I could ask for
  • #ScottsDeathRide πŸ’€πŸš΄β€β™‚οΈ – I rode 103.3 miles through Death Valley!

Copyright © 2021

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

SAVE & ACCEPT