Playing games

I play games with myself. Do other people? Looking for an image for this post, I found this very amusing picture of a kitty who seems to enjoy playing Solitaire. Looking around at other people's blogs to see what they are writing about, I noticed that some people tend to play games with themselves, just like I do. Sometimes it's to get psyched up to exercise, or stay on a diet, or keep some other New Year's Resolution. I would guess it's pretty common, but I don't know for sure.

I went into the kitchen just now to get myself a glass of wine. I don't allow myself more than one, because I know I will just keep going if I don't have a limit, and feeling good from a glass of wine is great, but getting drunk is a real bummer. So I play a game with myself: I will get four glasses from one container, and I don't fill the glass to the top. If I am really stingy for three days, when I pour the wine into the glass on the last day, it will be a little more, and I am pleased with myself. If I've been unconsciously giving myself a little bit more, on the last day I will have less.

Smart Guy asked me why I don't just put a line on the glass, but that would take all the fun out of it. I am on Day Two today and when I poured the wine, I intentionally gave myself a little less in order to have more later. That's just one of the games I play with myself.

Board games often seem boring to me, but I have family members who love them, and sometimes when I am visiting my family I will play one and have a great time. Scrabble is fun, but I have intentionally kept myself from downloading it onto my iPod for fear that I will end up spending way too much time in that activity. So you could say that's yet ANOTHER game I play with myself: keeping myself focused by limiting my diversions.

Now if I could just find a way to keep from always counting stairs. It doesn't matter how often I go up or down them, I count them every single day. Is this a game or a compulsion? Just wondering if I'm alone in these activities.

:-)