Lifehack:
Stop sinning, you pathetic, fallen wretch.
If that’s too hard, though, then here’s something you can try as you build up to that.
The moment before you succumb to your vice – whether that’s clicking a link, cracking open a bottle or inhaling to speak – pause.
Pause for five seconds.
Do that and you win this game.
Now, often that pause is enough for you to rethink what you’re doing. Desires strike in a moment of weakness, but they often can’t sustain that over five second.
There’s a good chance you’ll walk away and do something better with your time. This is like that trick to get you to floss: just floss one tooth. You can do that, no matter how tired or not in the mood you are.
And once you floss one tooth, it’s easy to keep going.
It’s the same here. Wait five seconds. Then you might just find it easy to keep on waiting.
But even if you still succumb, it weakens the connection between the urge and the payoff. If there was a 30-second delay between opening social media and seeing your feed, folks would be a lot less hooked on it.
Of course, 30 seconds is more than five. But that’s the idea. When holding off for five seconds gest easy, go for ten. Then 20. Then 30.
If you can hold sin at bay for a minute or more – and let’s be real, of course you can – it’s a lot harder to touch you.
This alone won’t make you impervious to your own fallen nature.
But if it helps, it’s worth the simplicity of it.
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