Letting guilt lead me to do right, West Palm Beach

Yesterday morning, I walked into the building with two work colleagues. As the three of us walked through the lobby, two of us headed towards the elevator and one headed towards the stairs. As she opened the door, Jill said, “OK who’s taking the stairs?” As I tugged on my over packed brief bag and my heavy purse, I said to Jill, “OK, I’ll go up with you.” My other colleague, Jack, looked somewhat reluctant, but he joined us. As the three of us trekked up to the third floor, Jill, seemed to be chanting all the way, “start the day out right; this is good for you” blah blah blah. I knew she was right in saying these things. It was the guilt that Jack and I felt that lead us to follow Jill.
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. Guilt is a powerful feeling. Guilt can make us do things that we should not do. Guilt can make us not do things that we should do. It was the feeling of guilt that lead me to veer right from the elevator to the stairs that morning. It is the feeling of guilt that will lead me to take the stairs during my work day travels. It’s also the fear of being caught on the elevator by my fellow bloggers. Guilt and fear work together.
I don’t mind taking the stairs when my load is light. In fact, I’ve made a pledge to myself. I will never been seen in the office elevators during the day unless special circumstances exist. Special circumstances are to be determined. Now, I’ve made the pledge to my fellow bloggers.
Later in the evening as I opened my mail while standing in the kitchen getting ready to grab a Valentine’s Day cupcake, I opened a package from Amelia, my Health Coach. The first line read, “As we discussed during our last session …”. I know what we discussed. I know that it did not include allowances for Valentine’s Day treats. At that moment, I felt that guilt again. How could I eat that cupcake and accept the new low fat cookbook that Amelia had sent me? I put the cupcake back into the box and threw the box into the garbage. Throwing the entire box away meant that they would be out of sight and out of mind. Sometimes my willpower is not as powerful as my feelings of guilt.
Only a few days left to enter to win a free registration to the Sunshine State Races. Guilt will not lead me to enter the race, but here’s how you can enter to win
a free registration:

Tweet us (@pbpstepbystep) one reason why you should win a registration to the half-marathon. Remember to use the hash tag: #sbys.
• Enter as often as you like, just be sure to send each reason in a separate tweet.
• One winner will be chosen at random.
• Be willing to sign a release form, if you win.
• Allow your name and contact information to be forwarded to the DDA, if you win.
• Sorry, Palm Beach Post employees, or family members, are not eligible to win.
• Deadline to tweet is 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 16.

Don’t like contests?
Here’s a discount code for 20 percent off the entry fee that you can use through Feb. 21 for the 5K or half-marathon. The code is WPBDDA225.