There are too many conflicting social narratives that we have to deal with today. We are faced with them, and we have to figure out how not to keep our own head and not get too anxious.

Like, body positivity vs healthy lifestyle. Yes, right, don’t even start telling me they are not opposed. They are, yet they aren’t, and then they still are. I’m a little too tired of how everyone all of a sudden starts parading plus-size models just as a means to get “plus points” in their own image. And right alongside, the pressure from the images of “fitness models”, about how gluten-free, or intuitive eating, or intermittent fasting, is something that you absolutely should do. And of course, written or not, under “this is healthy for you” is also a narrative about “losing the weight”. Until you hit anorexia or bulimia, then it’s bad, and then “keep a positive image of your body”. I think that this starts to be an issue of mental health much earlier than the eating disorders glimpse through. It’s mental health from the very beginning. It’s mental that we have to put extra stress on the plus-size models. It’s mental that we obsess over eating, or not eating. Alarms, news, and a newly sprouted cohort of dieticians. Obesity soars worldwide (and in the U.S., of course). The things we eat now vs the things “we” ate in the Paleolithic age. Oh come on! Ketosis for everyone!

I want to un-read, un-hear and un-know so many things about food, and health, and dieting right now, before my head explodes. Isn’t this the only way to actual health? To not know any of this, but the simple basics: eat everything in moderation, veggies and fruit are good for you; and also, keep active. That’s it. Exercise and a variety of food, most of it plant-based.

How do we stay away from all the news buzz, though? How do we teach ourself not to care about the latest narrative in the media? Or, considering that exposure is inevitable, how do we not let ourselves be impacted by it so much? I want to exercise for the fun of it, or for my own competitive interest, and not out of anxiety of gaining weight. I realized that only when I exercise and get sufficient sleep, I am not sluggish and tired by midday. So here, that’s my only motivation.

Do you want to know what my narrative and agenda is at this time?

• Nourishing my bonsai tree to health. It shed almost all its leaves in an accident about a month ago, and it‘s infested. I‘m trying to get it back to health, to survive until it gets repotted later this year. It gets a lot of my attention. I like watching it sprout new leaves, and now even some early bloom.
• Learning languages. There is some external pressure mixed with anxiety and guilt about not speaking the language of the country I live in fluently. But I‘m getting there, I‘m learning.
• Writing. Writing as a pleasure. As a meditation of sorts. But also, as getting something out and completed. Writing in the blog format has not gotten traction yet. Maybe I should set myself of a schedule, or do another challenge devoted to blog writing. We‘ll see.

A bunch of other things, too. Anyway, I realized, that I don‘t want to be too involved in the narrative of weight and health and body images — positive or negative. Eating — I‘m very interested in eating. But in the delicious side of it, and in making sure that I don‘t overeat because I believe that food should make me happy while I‘m making it, while I‘m eating it, and after I have eaten, too. Politics, I simply just don‘t want to talk about it. Not interested. Not my agenda.

Because we as a generation are getting so much exposed to media in so many forms, I feel we need to build “defence mechanisms”, otherwise we’ll drown in anxiety. And that’s all, folks. My best defence mechanism so far is a notebook and a pen, or keyboard and a simple writing app. Everyone needs their own nook of sanity.