My only resolution this year
Jan. 7th, 2008 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarahmichiganIs to spend less time living in fear.
Really, almost anything else I would want to make as a resolution boils down to that.
-I won't fear food in all its variety and splendor.
-I won't fear that taking a few days off of regular gym-going will melt my muscles and turn me into a couch potato.
-I won't fear that if I don't stay in this crap job that we'll have to sell the house or go without health insurance.
-I won't fear starting projects because I might not finish them.
We live in a culture of fear. We fear we're all going to die young because we're all so sedentary (not true- not supported by studies at all). Or we're all going to get diabetes from being too fat or eating too much sugar (impossible- it doesn't work that way). Young people are all couch potatoes because they stay inside and play videogames instead of going outside to play. But if they go outside to play, they might be kidnapped by a stranger or propositioned by a molester. Trans fat will give you a heart attack, and corn syrup will make you fat. Flying to Florida will give me deep vein thrombosis because I'm short and overweight and an infrequent flier, and these all increases my risk. If I don't conform to some ridiculous and arbitrary BMI standard right now, I am not *really* taking care of myself, and it'll be all my own fault if I end up crippled by 40 and dead at 59.
I was boggled by the self-flagellating self-hating commercials on TV over just a few hours on January 1 and 2 that I saw. We're all lazy, fat, ugly, and unorganized but if we spend enough money, we might be a little bit closer to acceptable!
Granted, it's New Year's resolution time when we all beat ourselves up en masse for our personal failings- it's a tradition! But good lord! I do not regret my decision to avoid most commercial TV on a weekly and monthly basis after that small taste. Advertising plays on one of the biggest and most common fears ever: that we're not OK the way we are and nobody will ever love us. I think that sucks and I refuse to expose myself to that kind of message on a regular basis.
After all: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.
Really, almost anything else I would want to make as a resolution boils down to that.
-I won't fear food in all its variety and splendor.
-I won't fear that taking a few days off of regular gym-going will melt my muscles and turn me into a couch potato.
-I won't fear that if I don't stay in this crap job that we'll have to sell the house or go without health insurance.
-I won't fear starting projects because I might not finish them.
We live in a culture of fear. We fear we're all going to die young because we're all so sedentary (not true- not supported by studies at all). Or we're all going to get diabetes from being too fat or eating too much sugar (impossible- it doesn't work that way). Young people are all couch potatoes because they stay inside and play videogames instead of going outside to play. But if they go outside to play, they might be kidnapped by a stranger or propositioned by a molester. Trans fat will give you a heart attack, and corn syrup will make you fat. Flying to Florida will give me deep vein thrombosis because I'm short and overweight and an infrequent flier, and these all increases my risk. If I don't conform to some ridiculous and arbitrary BMI standard right now, I am not *really* taking care of myself, and it'll be all my own fault if I end up crippled by 40 and dead at 59.
I was boggled by the self-flagellating self-hating commercials on TV over just a few hours on January 1 and 2 that I saw. We're all lazy, fat, ugly, and unorganized but if we spend enough money, we might be a little bit closer to acceptable!
Granted, it's New Year's resolution time when we all beat ourselves up en masse for our personal failings- it's a tradition! But good lord! I do not regret my decision to avoid most commercial TV on a weekly and monthly basis after that small taste. Advertising plays on one of the biggest and most common fears ever: that we're not OK the way we are and nobody will ever love us. I think that sucks and I refuse to expose myself to that kind of message on a regular basis.
After all: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-07 11:42 pm (UTC)Good resolution. My resolution this year is to actually live a life, with friends and activities and classes and joy, instead of what I do now -- work all week, have no after-work life, then try to stuff as much as I can into the weekend.
Another resolution is living simpler. Cleaning out junk (but what if I *neeeeeeeeeeed* it) is a big deal for me. Also, eating more simply (but very well).
no subject
Date: 2008-01-07 11:43 pm (UTC)Whatever, you know what I mean.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 03:03 am (UTC)OK, seriously, I think you're onto something there. I live in a lot of fear myself -- either of things I am powerless over anyway, or when I have power over them, I sometimes end up doing nothing about them.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-08 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 05:11 am (UTC)