‘Eat dessert first’: A reminder to care for ourselves

“Life is short. Eat dessert first!” — Jacques Torres

The above quote and its variations are familiar to us. Often used as an excuse to ruin your dinner by eating those cookies now, this famous sentiment is a gentle reminder to find the simple joys in our lives.

Right now, life is hard. Regardless of how we’re directly or indirectly impacted by world events, regardless of our political leanings — we can all agree that life is hard right now. Illness is hard. Change is hard. Day-to-day life can be hard, and now we’ve added all this extra stress.

So here’s your reminder: Life is short. Eat dessert first.

You only have so much physical and emotional energy to spend. Make sure you take the time to recharge your batteries, whatever that looks like for you. Whether it’s a walk, or a few minutes with a good book, or enjoying a pastry with your cup of coffee, make time for it.

Yes, time is limited and there is always just so much to do. It seems there’s always more work to be done than there are hours in the day. So prioritize. What absolutely must get done today? Do those things first. Then look at what’s left: What would be nice to have done today, but will be OK if it waits? And don’t forget to carve out time for yourself. Life is too short to spend every moment working.

Of course, some people have the opposite problem. You’re stuck at home — quarantined, furloughed, unemployed, working from home, etc. — and you’re finding it hard to get stuff done.

An article in Psychology Today by Dr. Marwa Azab talks about how our brain largely operates on autopilot. We keep to routines, such as going to work or school at the same time every day, eating our meals at roughly the same time every day, taking two days of rest after five days of work, etc. The familiarity of our lives is what allows us to go day-to-day without thinking too hard about it, which ultimately saves energy.

But with the massive changes happening everywhere, the deliberate part of our brain is working overtime. There’s a part of us that has switched over to survival mode, particularly in regards to the pandemic, and now every decision has seemingly higher stakes. This makes the logical, analytical part of our brain kick into overdrive as it quickly assesses everything happening around us. That takes a ton of energy. And mental capacity. Which is part of the reason it has become so hard to get anything done.

This brings us back to our original point: Appreciating simple joys, falling into comfortable routines or enjoying dessert before dinner gives our minds a break. Whether we’re overwhelmed with stuff to do or too overwhelmed to do stuff, we still need to take the time to recharge our physical and emotional batteries and give our busy minds a break. Life is too short to not take care of ourselves — so it’s OK to eat dessert first.