All Frosting, No Cupcake

Guilty confession: as a child, I used to sneak spoonfuls of frosting right out of the container and eat it. Doing this gave me a sugar rush like no other, and it was always soooooo much sweeter than just eating the cake. In fact, I used to just lick the frosting off of my cupcakes and then leave them there, much to my family's disgust....since I'd usually wipe out the tray and leave them with a bunch of freshly-licked cupcakes.

In the 21st century, we live in a specialized world where we can have whatever we want, exactly how we want it. In fact, if you really like the frosting that much, you can walk down to the store, buy your own can, and have at it until your pants don't fit right and your head hurts. You're entitled to it, if that's what you really want.

We often attract students who want something specific about our program and aren't necessarily interested in the whole thing. I'm finding this as I'm working with some members of my student team. Some just liked the workout, but aren't fired up about the community service. I'm searching for the right combination of words and actions that can show them the benefits of eating the whole cupcake - not just licking off the frosting.

I think that it's easy for people to cherry-pick the things that they like most about the UBBT process, or any of their other endeavors, and set aside the rest. This even applies to us. It's easy to handle the part that appeals to us first - to lick off the frosting, if you will. In my case, exercising the discipline to eat well is a part of my challenge. Look at the metaphors I'm using...can you tell what's on my mind? (ha!)

If I'm going to be successful, I need to focus on the total package and eat the whole metaphorical cupcake.

(No actual frosting or cupcakes were ingested during the brainstorming, drafting, or publishing of this post.)