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    « No, I'm not Dead | Main | The Paleolithic Diet »
    Saturday
    Dec122009

    Telling the Truth

    I can be nice or I can be truthful.  The situation is this: being nice doesn’t make people uncomfortable, and comfortable people don’t often change their habits.  The truth hurts, and if telling people the truth will cause them to reevaluate their life condition then I will gladly use this forum as a means of evoking emotions that can make a change in readers.

    In this age of political correctness, it seems that we are concerned with peoples’ emotional states more than we are concerned with their physical states.  Here’s a way to observe this idea in action: walk up to the next hefty person you see in town – preferably a perfect stranger – and tell them, “You’re fat and need to exercise.”  Chances are you’ll see some degree of indignation – the individual will either punch your lights out, cry, or reply with some insult of their own.

    Point of the matter is that you actually told the person the truth, so why the touchy emotional response?  Don’t we teach our children to tell the truth?  Isn't truth valued over falsehood?  Well, yes and no.

    Like I said, there is an unwritten rule in our society that says we should be concerned for the emotional welfare of our fellow travelers on this planet.  We’ve adopted a whole long list of “politically correct” terms that are designed to protect people from otherwise unpleasant truths.  People are “between jobs” instead of “jobless.”  Some immigrants are “undocumented” rather than “illegal.”  Teachers have to tell students that they “deferred success” in a class rather than telling the truth: “you failed.”  We are teaching our children to lie to themselves, and they carry the skill into adulthood.

     Let’s cut through the crap, shall we?  If you’re reading this and you can’t look at yourself naked in the mirror without feeling nauseous, you’re not chunky, hefty, husky, overweight, or stout.  There’s not “more of you to love.”

    You’re fat.  The degree to which you are fat is irrelevant – you might be fat, obese, or clinical – just understand that you’re fat, and you need to do something about it.

    Hopefully hearing me say you’re fat is uncomfortable that makes you want to slap me.  That’s fine with me (especially since I’m sitting safely in my home) as long as it makes you think about your current condition and the importance of changing it.

    I wish someone would have told me what I’m telling you now.  In this age of political correctness no one was willing to look at me, put their hand on my shoulder, and tell me as a true friend that I was fat.  I had to wake up one morning, look in the mirror and tell come to terms with my condition. After years of lying to myself, I had a moment of epiphany on the morning of my 39th birthday.  I looked in the mirror, looked myself in the eyes and said, "You look terrible, Keith."  It's not as if this was new information, but in that moment I saw through the lies I had been telling myself.

    I dare you to tell yourself the truth.  Look at yourself in the mirror and say out loud, “You’re fat.”  It’s true, isn’t it?

    After all, if you walk around telling yourself lies all the time, you’ll never compel yourself to change.  Do you tell yourself that the extra weight is “muscle”?  Do you tell yourself that getting fatter is a natural part of getting older?  Have you convinced yourself that “fat” is the new “fit”?

    Those are lies.  Shadows and illusions in which you hide to protect yourself from the painful truth that you are far from being the healthy individual you know you should be.

    Remember the old adage that “the truth will set you free”?  It’s no less true when it comes to your health and fitness.  I can tell you the truth, but it’s far more important that YOU tell YOURSELF the truth.  There’s no time like the present to get busy being honest with yourself – and begin to make changes for the better.

    I invite your comments.  If you want to tell me I’m wrong (or if you think I’m right) then leave a comment by clicking below or send me a personal message.

    Be well!

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    Reader Comments (2)

    eating cherry cheesecake and drinking beer as i read this. ;)

    December 14, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterm price

    Mmmmmmm... cheesecake.

    And telling yourself the truth, too. :-)

    December 17, 2009 | Registered CommenterKeith

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