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As I write, I'm sitting in the gorgeous Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. I just finished speaking on “Monetizing a Blog” at the Story@Home Conference.

Now that's all well and good, but I'll save that story for PopCre.net. What I want to tell you about is the cake.

I've been dieting for…forever. Since I was 12. I'm exhausted from worrying about my weight and, as I've written before, I'm even more exhausted from trying things that don't work.

Now that's all well and good, too…except that it's not well and good, it really stinks. But that's not what I'm writing about either. I'm here to write about cake, chocolate cake.

After speaking I went to the green room to pick up one of the box lunches prepared for the speakers. I get a turkey wrap with potato chips…and triple layer chocolate cake.

I remember the last time I had a full piece of chocolate cake. It was at my daughter's wedding reception. It was the groom's cake made by the groom's grandmother and it was utterly to die for. And I say that in the literal meaning of the phrase. To. Die. For.

The time before that, however, is unknown to me. Yes, a few times a year I have a bite of one of my kid's birthday cakes. But a full piece? Not a chance.

But today is cheat day.

I'm on yet another new diet (that I'm not going to write about now) and I've been “good” all week. And today I can eat anything (and everything) I want.

I looked over and over at the chocolate cake with the sour cream and mousse filling. But it's so hard to give up the idea that some foods are just bad and eating them will ruin everything.

And I decided to eat it.

And I at the small bag of chips as well.

And I do not feel guilty.

Life is too short to ignore chocolate.

What is your vice? Maybe you have a secret chocolate stash in the back of your sock drawer. Maybe you order cheesecake and hide it in the garage refrigerator. Perhaps you take really, really long showers—and stay far longer than it takes to get clean—just for the peace and quiet.

Unless a vice is illegal, immoral, or harmful, find a way to incorporate it—in reasonable amounts—in your life. Believe it or not, you probably won't feel like overindulging. Instead, you'll feel less deprived and your life can move on to the more important.

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.