I was on my way back from the cabin on Christmas Eve when I spotted the familiar flashing red and blue lights of a police car.

And I could tell he was headed straight for ME.

Craaaaap, I thought as I steered my car to the side of the road.

I waited while the officer ran my plates and collected himself, then rolled down my window as he got out of his car and approached mine.

“Hi, Officer!” I greeted.

“Ma’am,” he replied, then asked, “Do you know how fast it is through here?”

“Yeah, it’s fifty-five, I usually go sixty,” I replied.

“Do you know how fast you were going?” he asked.

“Probably sixty-four, sixty-five,” I admitted.

“I clocked you going seventy around that corner.”

😬

“Listen, I know this car is probably so much fun to drive,” he said, “but you cannot be taking these corners at seventy miles an hour in this canyon.”

“I know,” I agreed. “There’s a storm behind me. I’m trying to get back to Boise and beat that storm.” (Since my car doesn’t have snow tires.) “I just got done passing that guy. I’m sure I was feeling my oats. Running a little hot.”

“Let me run your license and registration,” he said. “And I need your proof of insurance.”

I handed everything over and waited in my car with Hazel while he checked everything out.

“I’m gonna let you go with a warning,” he said as he came back.

“Listen, if you give me a ticket, I one hundred percent deserve it,” I told him.

“No, just a warning today. Please be careful,” he added. “I’m sure this car is awesome, but please slow down.”

It was nice of him not to write me a Christmas Eve speeding ticket (that I totally deserved).

And Hazel and I made it back to Boise ahead of the storm. We spent Christmas Eve at my mom’s house.

Getting pulled over reminded me that I’d gotten a little complacent about my driving.

You could argue that I had good reason for it, even. I was trying to get home ahead of a snow storm that my car isn’t equipped to handle.

Yet that reason wouldn’t have been very comforting if I’d taken a corner too fast and ended up hitting something or going off the road.

Complacency (a form of overconfidence) can sneak up on you in a lot of areas, including your weight loss.

You think, “Oh, I’m doing really well on my diet today, I’m going to have a cookie.”

Next thing you know, you’ve eaten six cookies and feel sick and bloated.

When it comes to your healthy eating, treating it like a diet is the first – and biggest – mistake you can make. It’s gotta be a new way of life or it won’t work long-term.

The second-biggest mistake you can make is getting complacent. If you’ve got thoughts, beliefs, and habits that led you to getting fat, you’ve gotta keep watch over your own mind, because it absolutely 100% will try to trick you into going off-plan.

If you’re doing well, KEEP doing well instead of using it as an excuse to let the rules slide.

If you’re lucky, something will come along to interrupt your complacency, like the cop did for me.

But most of the time, it’ll be YOU and YOU, and you’ll need to decide to stay on track (which you can do by reaching out for support when you’re feeling weak).

Bottom line: Complacency kills dreams and goals. So when you start talking yourself into going off-plan, turn on the mental “police sirens,” pull yourself over, and give yourself a kind but firm warning to SLOW DOWN and follow the rules.