Hissy Fit...because everyone deserves one once in a while.
"You've lost weight," my cousin said when I recently saw her while visiting my parents church. "What are you doing?" she questioned. I told her I was trying to eat right and exercise. "Oh," she said deflated and pretty much walked away.
I was the bearer of bad news. I had just plopped reality down before her and she walked away as if I had plopped something else down that she was hoping she didn't have to clean up.
I can't fault her, though. She is no different from the millions of Americans that are looking for the easy way out of everything. Don't people remember that nothing good, ever comes easy? That if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is? That no one ever becomes successful without stepping out of their comfort zone? But the quest for results without trying continues.
And of course the corporate giants are out there capitalizing on our pathetic delusional search for the easy, lazy and unrealistic. Just read the captions on the front of most women's magazines. They know people are looking for the easy answers and prey on it. For instance, O Magazine touts this month, "Five things EVERY happy woman does." I'm pretty happy; I don't recall them calling me and asking if I do these five things. Did they ask you? If so, please let me know. What I am mainly curious about though, is if they didn't ask you, me, my sister, my mother, or any of your friends or mine, does that make us unhappy women? This headline was accompanied by, "Spring Shopping, The ONE piece that makes EVERYTHING you own look new."
It ended up being an article about jackets and it featured eight jackets to be exact. So how can eight jackets be the one thing that will make every single thing you own look new. You do the math. It just doesn't add up.
Do you get where I'm going with this? I am so over these over-the-top, false-hope, empty promises month after month. I'm so sick of trickery. It's in our politics, our television, our news sources, and even our food supply. It's gotten to where you truly don't know where to turn for the absolute truth. In fact, I'm not sure if there is an absolute truth. Anyway, the O Magazine headlines just happen to strike me the wrong way on the wrong day. So much so, that I went to bookstore and started looking at other headlines that were just as misleading.
"EVERYTHING You Want (Need) to Know About Guys" was on the front of Glamour. Well, I guess bad news is in order for marriage/relationship counselors, because Glamour has figured it ALL out and can tell us in three or less pages in their March issue. Who knew it was so simple?
Here's another one: "An Easy Workout that Tightens EVERYTHING" Yeah, right.whatever. This is the sort of statement that actually would have enticed me to buy the magazine in the past, but not anymore. I am wiser and I bet you are, too.
Month after month we are bombarded with new promises from magazines for beauty, weight loss, happiness, and bliss. This year we are bombarded with new promises from presidential hopefuls that may, but probably won't, come true. And what about new promises from infomercials on television for products that will make us skinnier, prettier, happier, smarter, healthier, and richer? The only person truly getting richer is the guy selling the books on how to get richer. The bait is set and hungry Americans bite.
What it all boils down to is money. They don't want you to actually have one thing that makes everything in your wardrobe look new, or know everything there is to know about men this month. They just want you to buy the magazine. After all, what will you read about next month if all you need to know is right there in black and white this month?
So I was in the grocery store yesterday, and my husband was talking to the store manager. He complimented the fellow on losing a lot of weight and asked, "How did you do it?" The manager replied, "I've been exercising and trying to eat right." Ahhh, the truth! It was music to my ears. And you know as well as I do, that the truth will set you free.