When did staying healthy become a full-time job?
Sure, we want to stay healthy. And we’re willing to do something for it.
Routines help with that. They sort things out, give us a sense of overview. At their best, they show us when a goal still fits the path we’re on. And when it doesn’t. A little inner dialogue, a bit of loving self-observation. That can genuinely help.
But when a routine, and usually it’s several at once, all marketed as “essential”, suddenly demands a thousand individual steps, you lose track. Not just of the steps. Of what you actually wanted in the first place.
And you don’t end up calm. You end up exhausted.
That’s when the inner voices get loud: See. Didn’t manage it again. Told you it wouldn’t work.
Shouldn’t certain apps come with a warning label before you even open them?
“Warning: you are now entering an over-optimized fantasy world. It shows fragments of real life, and convinces you that everything will fall into place, as long as you buy this, follow that, and stick to all the rules. Your health is worth it, isn’t it?”
When did we stop telling the show apart from the ad?
There used to be a time when the ad break was the perfect moment for a bathroom trip or a quick detour to the kitchen. Now we carry the ad everywhere. Even to the bathroom. We watch it voluntarily, don’t question it, feel personally spoken to, or rather, pressured to apply it exactly as shown. Because otherwise, it’s apparently our own fault if health, looks, or success don’t work out.
A new trend making headlines every few weeks now. In a print magazine, we’d say: seriously? The same claim as a paid ad on our phone, and suddenly we’re trying something new again. Full of momentum, building the next optimization routine.
I’d say we do this to feel safe. By trying to get everything right.
Can we even do that?
Do we even need to?
Maybe it would help more to pick out what actually fits us, and understand the rest for what it is: nice advertising. Made for somebody else.
There is no one-size-fits-all.
Food for Thought. Structure for Change.