Our world has created a pleasure driven mentality and with that we have come to confuse feeling good about ourselves with something that feels good to us. When someone takes the time to sit down and reflect on life, it will typically end up connecting doing good things with feeling good about one’s self. I’m talking about doing good things like being considerate or helpful of others or making decisions that have a positive impact on our lives, such as packing a lunch vs. eating out - which has both financial and health implications.

Over time however, many of us come to equate doing something that makes us feel good as something that is good for us, when in fact it may be something that is not good for us or others. In many instances we convince ourselves something is good as a self-esteem defense tactic – make an immediate decision and convince myself it’s a good for me because it makes me feel good. However, the long-term impact can be damaging. One simplistic example...those daily lattes pile on unnecessary calories and the financial impact is notable - over time we end up wondering why we’re gaining weight and running out of money.

Due to the programming that we’ve received over time and continue to be subjected to everyday, dealing with this can be challenging. If we've developed habits around the behavior it becomes even more challenging, since we will have to work to overcome not only the outside influences but also ingrained behavior. However, as the cliche goes, awareness is the first step. Therefore, being aware of what is important to you, what makes you feel good about yourself, and perhaps most importantly that not everything that feels good is good for you will help you to make decisions that both make you feel good physically and feel good about yourself.