sometimes, self-awareness means admitting and accepting the fact that you will do it and shifting your focus from trying to talk yourself out of it
to managing the risks, minimizing the fallout, and preparing yourself- because that's a more realistic path to a better outcome

here's how you do it:

understand your behavioural patterns. 

not the fantasy self who always listens to logic. the actual you who sometimes does the thing anyway

reject self-delusion 

and stop trying to argue yourself into being someone else

move from control to strategy; adapt. 

instead of "i must stop myself", 
you say "when this happens, how do i protect myself from unnecessary harm?"

accept complexity. 

desire, emotion, and history drive behaviour just as much as logic does. you choose to work with this reality instead of fighting it

**idealized self → actual self **
**self-policing → self-understanding **

radical honesty + pragmatic strategy = 
the middle ground between 

magical self-control (believing that if you just say the right arguments to yourself, you'll suddenly change) and 

fatalism (believing you're powerless and nothing can be done)

acknowledge your real tendencies and use that knowledge to make the best out of an imperfect situation.

-just something my brain told me during my trail run this morning. i haven't had a chance to put this to practice yet.