What if I told you that your overeating,
Overspending,
Or overconsuming has nothing to do with laziness or a lack of discipline?
What if I told you it's actually a symptom of something deeper?
A belief?
A program?
Something inside of you shaped by scarcity?
I want to share something with you.
It's the moment when I crack the code of this in myself.
There's a part of me that used to live in a constant state of fear.
Fear that there wouldn't be enough.
Not just money,
Not just time,
But anything that brought me joy.
Food,
Experiences,
Even love.
But scarcity is a paradox.
It makes us grasp for more,
Which often ends up leaving us with less.
Let me tell you a story.
One day in Vietnam,
I bought these little coconut cookies.
They came in small packs of three.
I ate the first pack,
And they were so good.
Then I heard a little voice inside of my head convincing me to open a second.
So I did.
And I'll be honest,
I went for a third.
But then I noticed something.
The voice still wasn't satisfied.
It was already trying to get me to eat a fourth pack.
And at that point,
I knew I didn't even want a fourth pack.
I was full.
I was content.
So I stopped walking,
And I sat on the closest bench and really listened.
This voice inside of me,
It wasn't just asking anymore.
It was demanding,
Kind of like a bully.
And in that moment,
I asked myself,
What's really going on here?
Do I actually want more cookies,
Or is this something else?
That's when it hit me.
This is a classic scarcity mindset in play,
Because I was satisfied.
I didn't need more,
But there was a younger part of me that was scared.
Scared the delicious cookies wouldn't be there tomorrow.
Scared that the good thing might run out,
That I wouldn't get this feeling again.
But then I thought to myself,
If I ate all the cookies,
That prophecy would come true.
So this is a paradox.
And I realized,
This wasn't just about the cookies.
It was about a deep,
Old fear that I wouldn't be cared for,
That I'd be left without.
Scarcity had been running the show of my life without me even knowing it.
I thought about all the times I had blown through money,
Or food,
Or bought things I really didn't need.
It had always felt like an unstoppable impulse.
I couldn't control it,
And I never knew why,
Until this day,
When I took just a little extra time to figure out what was really happening.
And then I could finally see clearly,
I was never greedy.
I was just trying to protect myself.
I was just trying to feel safe.
So at that point,
I made myself a promise.
I would have one pack of cookies after dinner every day,
And I wouldn't let myself run out.
And I kept that promise for about six weeks.
Each day,
As I gave myself this small little pack of cookies,
Something shifted.
The panic quieted,
The voice urging me to get more now,
Softened.
And I realized I began to trust myself.
And that trust started showing up in other areas of my life,
Too.
With food,
With money,
With boundaries.
The truth is,
Most of us aren't struggling with self-control or greed.
We're struggling with self-trust,
And with old patterns of scarcity running right below the surface.
Self-trust isn't built in one big moment.
It's built slowly,
Over time,
With small,
Consistent acts.
So if you ever find yourself impulsively reaching for more of something,
Pause.
Ask yourself,
What's underneath this?
What would it feel like to give myself a plan of consistency,
Instead of punishing myself after the fact?
You see,
Scarcity isn't always real,
But our fear of it is.
And that's what makes it show up in our life again and again.
Healing it begins with noticing,
And then choosing differently.
All you need is some compassion,
And a little self-direction.
I want to know,
Has anyone else ever felt like this?
Have you ever noticed something inside of you pushing you to do something?
Let me know in the comments,
And thanks for listening.
