HOW OBSESSED ARE WE?

 

HOW OBSESSED ARE WE?

All the things we reach for to look and feel our best.

 

In this article I am going to attempt the near impossible because I am going to write about our obsessive preoccupation with health and fitness items as manifested in the literally thousands of pharmaceuticals we purchase and in the remedies, aids and gadgets suggested by a never ending barrage of ads and programs dedicated solely to all our ailments and all the things we should be paying attention to; basically to lead better and longer lives.  That’s what we all want, isn’t it?  Watching this non-stop stream of ads on TV or handheld devices is enough to undermine your mental health because you’re bound to suffer from a suggested illness or symptom.  Take it seriously and you have to be convinced that we’re living in a terminally ill society.

From books, pamphlets and gadgets, to fitness clubs and seminars, we’re bombarded by information, and it constantly changes, because there is not a single thing out there that has longevity, although that is exactly what so many profess you will attain:  If only you purchase this or that item or product, buy into it, follow it to the letter, etcetera. 

According to the dictionary an obsession is a persistent disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea or feeling leading to an obsessive need for a quick solution.  And the problem, my dear friends, lies in the last part of that sentence, because when it comes to our health and healthy solutions and lifestyles, we’re not only sorely lacking in resolve, that horrible things called genetics and inherited genes comes into play.  Any good doctor will tell you that about 75 percent of the bad things we end up with, health wise, are genetic and only 25 percent is due to lifestyle, as in irresponsible habits.  All the things we shouldn’t do, eat or inhale and then only in moderation. (Goodbye all you-can-eat buffets) (Goodbye super-sizing) (Goodbye binge drinking and eating)

Advice!  Easily given, but rarely taken.

Perhaps parents should concentrate on lifestyle coaching and practicing healthy habits, rather than indulging offspring by spoiling them rotten with instant gratification; electric scooters and couch-bound electronic devices, just to name two popular items.  No unhealthy foods and snacks, plenty of fresh air and exercise, using our natural ability to move around with arms and legs and not spending hours on end watching mindless TV and playing video games with lots of silly noises and things crashing and getting blown up.  Of course, all of the above would require parents reared and adhering and practicing all of the above preached.  Hence our obsession with reaching out to substitutes because we’re abject failures.  To practice what we preach is our biggest shortcoming and we’re all sinners and therefore gullible victims of redemption.  There is help out there.  We need them.  Role models, influencers, gurus, experts, never a shortage of the saviors of mankind and like the fads and gadgets they promote, they come and go like the proverbial seasons and we continue to watch, buy and try.  They claim it works and of course, when it doesn’t, we’d look like fools if we dare to complain, even if most of them promise a full refund if not completely satisfied.  Nobody does!  You didn’t try hard enough.  You gave up too soon.  The changes didn’t come fast enough and the worst, it makes you feel like a loser.  You hold a garage or yard sale instead and hide the fitness mistake amongst all the other discarded items and you hope that nobody notices or remarks, “Hey, did you honestly think that would work.  Sucker!”

Thousands and thousands of people are involved in this multi-billion dollar industry playing on our worst fears and obsessions.  Who wants to get old and wrinkly?  Instead you buy that advertised exercise equipment, especially those that you fold and hide underneath your chair, creams and potions, pills and supplements, books on diets and healthy living, vegan and vegetarian, what to eat and what not to eat.  Pilatus, meditation, yoga.  Special retreats that are no longer called fat farms to detox and submit yourself to the realization that you’re out of control and need professional help to send you back home; healthy and invigorated, a new person.  Turning over a new leaf only to be re-entering the same, familiar orbit.  Surrounded by the same vices and devices.  Still there and beckoning.  You don’t need fancy algorithms in this industry because they simply cater to all our shortcomings and gullible nature.

Here today, gone tomorrow.

And we can’t keep up with the changes, because so much of what is advocated and recommended today, is debunked and challenged tomorrow.  You shouldn’t have eaten that.  I know, I know, we told you initially that it would work, but recent studies have indicated the opposite.  Try this instead!  That particular diabetes drug that you’re using to lose weight, actually increases your risk of harming your pancreas.  Remember, it is a diabetes drug, intended for people whose pancreas needs help functioning properly.  And when you pay attention to the side effects of drugs, should you really jump at the opportunity to try it out or could a healthy lifestyle change produce a better result?

Everything professed and advertised guarantees that it works, but very few of the so-called experts live long enough to great acclaim and most, if they live long enough, will never acknowledge the disclaimers that inevitable will arise when the debunking sets in, following the glowing testimonials when they were initially flocking their products.  Goodbye Jane and Suzanne, we hope you enjoyed the proceeds while long abandoned devices and gadgets bearing your names are now littering landfill sites.  Perhaps the odd purchaser keeps one around as a reminder, an item of nostalgia and that unhappy conundrum that continues to haunt them, why did it work for Jane and not for me and why, oh why, did I never end up looking like her?

Keep on looking.

I can’t get over the thousands and thousands of people redecorating perfect skin with garish tattoos and designs.  Permanent markers of unhappy people looking for an escape from the dreary reality of life: family, kids, dead-end jobs, debt and mortgages and stuck in a rut.  We are so taken in by the unrealistic pictures painted by our consumption driven societies.  Ordinary simply doesn’t sell anymore and the unrealistic expectations so many crave are like orgiastic explosions of fulfillment desired, as if their lives should resemble that of the headline grabbers of the day.  We have become addicted to everything professed and to everything we watch and we try and try.  Tauntingly within reach and yet out of reach.

Don’t expect any definitive answers from me.  Even a top-notch AI program wouldn’t be able to come up with a reasonable answer to explain our obsessions and obsessive needs.  I am old, liver spots dot my face, wrinkles galore, hair thinning and a shiny pate on top, spare parts galore and although my mind can still imagine all kinds of wonderful things, the body says @&%$ you!

Count your blessings.

Be honest.  Accept yourself for who and what you are.  My life has been filled with the usual ups and downs, but I have never really suffered any serious deprivations.  I have never been bombed or thrown out of my house with only the clothes on my back.  I have never suffered hunger or starvation or have been stranded in a refugee camp.  Never been exposed to discrimination or persecuted for whatever reason.  Life is a crapshoot from start to finish and all of us are fragile creatures.  I’ve been lucky.  War and violence thus far have passed me by and I know that the exit sign looms larger with every passing day.  But I have enjoyed the journey and writing has provided me with incredible joy.  The best advice I can give you on your journey through life: Be the answer.

Be the answer, you may find it a bit cryptic, but put your imagination to work and figure out what it would mean to you.  Better yet, let me know.

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