We all know that most of us eat too much gluten. If we eat packet foods it’s almost certain gluten will be lurking within, unless the pack is specifically marked ‘gluten free’. Every time we have a piece of conventional bread or any other bakery goods we’re consuming gluten. We also have a huge amount of wheat in our diet, and who knows if it’s genetically modified or not? Probably the latest hybrid variety isn’t that good for our health, anyway.

So it’s good to experiment with other flours just to give our bodies a rest from unrelenting gluten ingestion. That’s what I was telling myself this morning when I decided I should try something flour based — but gluten free and vegan – in my pan on top of the stove. Start simple, I exhorted myself. So I did. I began with just potato flour and water, thinking I would make some kind of pancake. This experiment was a resounding success. Uhh, if you want glue, that is. The bottom cooked the same way a firm paste would mature if left in the sun for days … and the uncooked top was so sticky it was amazing. I tell you, you’d pay a fortune for glue like that! After flipping the experiment and cooking the other side, I decided that I had an incredible new product on my hands. This was just like one of those gasket thingies the mechanics use! The only thing missing was the cutouts, but they could do that with a stanley knife, couldn’t they? Wow, if they only knew about this, they could DIY and save a fortune on kits. And no doubt the greenies would get on board with this great new product as it’s 100 per cent biodegradable to boot!

With the gasket experiment firmly behind me, I felt that a little further hands-on research was required. Enter some newly bought coconut flour. After mixing with water, I put some in the pan. It spattered and complained, and I could see why. I was expecting an albino to go out in the sun and get a nice tan. Needless to say it didn’t cook well. Okay, then, a blend. I threw some of coconut flour and potato flour together with water and once again oiled my pan. Not quite success but better than the previous two experiments.

I don’t want you to think that I gave up then, but truthfully I gave up trying to make it vegan. I added one egg and a little salt and the result was a deliciously eggy pancake that I consumed with gusto.

I admit that I could probably have done some online research to find out that I couldn’t cook pancakes/flat bread with single ingredient flours like potato or coconut, but sometimes the fun is in doing it for yourself. And every time I do this sort of thing I admit all over again that I’m better at cooking with vegetables – which I guess isn’t such a bad thing.

I’ve just done two things in quick succession. I’ve demolished some chocolate and I’ve cleaned the top of the freezer. The confectionery I’m going to just admit to and let go. It’s the other that interests me at the moment.

I’ve known the top of the freezer has needed cleaning for some time. The freezer isn’t in the kitchen. It’s in the laundry where the washing machine would normally go (except that it’s more convenient in our home to have the washing machine in the en suite at the other end of the house). I don’t actually use the laundry much. It only houses a sink with a cabinet underneath and the freezer. It’s mostly used for cleaning really, really dirty hands when coming in from the outdoors. My hands don’t get really, really dirty (think grease, oil, and other grungy boys’ stuff) so most of the time I just give this room a cursory clean of floor and sink.

The point is, I had to get a chair, a wet sponge and a rag for drying. I had to move a couple of things so I could clean the top. And it took two minutes. Two minutes! For something I’ve been looking at for a couple of weeks and feeling an underlying guilt about. That is ridiculous. And so are many of the other decisions we make by not doing something right now, this moment, when we see that something needs to be done. We all usually have two minutes to spare. But what do we do? We have an internal conversation that goes something like this:
That needs doing.
I should do it.
But I can’t do it now
I’ll do it later …

Then come the excuses:
Because …
I’m too busy at the moment (I am so super busy that I don’t have two minutes to spare … wow, that is b-u-s-y!)
I don’t feel like doing it now (not worth the pain of doing two minutes’ cleaning to get it off my mental To Do list?)
It would take too long to get the supplies together to do it (yeah right, when I said two minutes, that included this step)

So it’s worth looking at the little things we usually let slip through the cracks. We often have a background discomfort about not doing them, and that guilt uses up a heap more energy than just getting in and doing the tiny chores would have.

There are two lessons to take away from from this.
Don’t leave chocolate lying around from the dinner party you held the night before.
Do little jobs when you see them the first time.

When you decide to do nothing, you’re still making a decision. And that goes for every solitary thing in life.

Some years ago, I succeeded at something that was very hard for me. I did it by unwittingly using the ‘overwhelming force’ technique.

I was so determined to succeed at this thing that I thought about it from many aspects. I prepared for it quite assiduously. I went to the library and learned about it. I committed to taking a whole load of vitamins that my reading had led me to believe would help. I wrote my reasons and my feelings of determination in my diary. I honoured myself and my decision by taking the challenge seriously.

I committed. Really, I probably overcommitted. But when the allocated day came around, I was instantly successful and my decision to do this thing stood firm. It was a big thing for me.

Looking back, it’s still a big thing. Bad habits can be very difficult to stamp out. Every time you try but don’t overcome the habit, the gloom of past failure can become a cloud hanging over the subject and make you less keen to undertake a future attempt.

Meeting your challenge – whatever it is – with overwhelming force means you have to be unstintingly generous with your personal resources. It requires passion, a desire to truly do something about your problem. You have to throw a heap of thought and energy into it. You need to acquire knowledge, to work on your mental fortitude and finally, to take action. And you must have a plan for dealing with any trigger moments that could otherwise derail your decision.

I didn’t talk about it to others. Nowadays people talk about accountability and use social media to trumpet their decisions and publicly journal their journey. For me, talking would have weakened my resolve. I had to keep it inside where I could nurture and strengthen it. I had to guard my thoughts so they could be channelled into actions that would work for me.

Plus, I was only trying to change one thing. It was a biggie, but it was only one. I think that’s a salutory lesson. Decide on the single most important thing, and exercise all your passion, time, thought and action into making it happen.