How to Live Forever in Ten Easy Steps: Step 10

Welcome (finally!) to Step 10 of How to Live Forever in Ten Easy Steps:

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10) Indulge a Little.
This final rule is really about experiencing some joy and some guilty pleasures every so often.

Go ahead and overeat every once in a while. Heck, overdrink every once in a while too. Sometimes you have to let your hair down and misbehave. It’s part of being human, and sometimes a little gluttony is what makes life worth living. There are diets, for example, that allow for “cheat days.” That idea really resonates with me. It seems to me that healthy eating habits can be more effectively built if you can break them once in a while without having to feel like a quitter or a total loser. It reminds me of the classic quote from Saint Augustine: “God, grant me chastity, but not now.”

So break the rules once in a while. But then return to your normal, healthful habits and have those habits drive the preponderance of your behavior. Don’t make overindulgence be your standard practice, lest it kill you before your time.

Readers, what additional steps you would add to this list?