“You can cheat the system, but you can’t cheat yourself…”

Bunk. 

I think we cheat ourselves all the time.  

And when we do, we lose. And so does everyone else. 

We can trick ourselves into thinking we are avoiding the consequences of our actions (or that there are no consequences), but they will catch up to us eventually. 

We can trick ourselves into thinking we can substitute something fake for something real and still get the same result (e.g. social media interactions with real interactions). 

When we cheat, we lose, and everyone else does too. 

There are lots of legitimate shortcuts and ways to outsource things in our lives, but here are a few that we can’t cheat on without harming ourselves:

• Personal relationships 
• Community 
• Fulfillment and contentment 
• Health and well-being 
• Exercise 
• Eating well 
• Faith/Purpose 
• Self Care 

What have you been cheating on lately?