Weight Loss, Society and Following The Rules (Part One) – How To Be An Individual and Survive.

The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

 

 

 

Still Going Strong or How To Revive A Tired Blog

 

Er, hello?  (I cough uncomfortably).

Remember me?  The beautiful, blonde, super model blogger from Australia? (Oops no sorry I forgot, that’s just in my dreams)

Anyhow, I’m back and am here to breathe life into this somewhat neglected little blog spot.  It seems that recently I may have inadvertently broken all the ‘rules for blogging’ which happen to include regular posts and updates.  BIG OOPS!  Having never been a very good rule follower though, it is not surprising to me that I’ve broken a few. I seem to do that often.

In my (humble) opinion, there’s too many rules governing our lives anyway. And who is it that keeps making them, imposing them, defining them, applying them?  If someone happens to personally know an official ‘rules maker’ please notify me, asap, as I would love to have a chat to them.  We all just wanna be happy, right?  So what’s this with all this ‘ rules we must all follow’ hype that seems to follow me everywhere I go?

 

More Musings About Rules

 

The dictionary defines rules as the following: ordinary course of procedure; usual way; common state or condition of things. Hmmm, okay, but rules are meant to be broken, are they not? Apart from the few rules that ensure our collective safety and wellbeing – look both ways before crossing the road, don’t put your hand on a hot stove, etc…I have begun to wonder what other rules might be surreptitiously governing our lives without our permission?

Ask a person covered in tattoos or piercings (I have nothing against either, by the way) and I bet they would say ‘plenty’.  Perhaps these are the few that are saying to society – ‘you won’t catch me conforming to your ordinary course of procedure’.  Perhaps their individualism and their own concept of what is usual, acceptable and common is more important to them than some arbitrary society rule which says we should all leave our skin intact. No graffiti artists allowed.

Interestingly though it  is quite usual and acceptable to spray tan your body, sun tan your body, paint (or even fake) your fingernails and dye your hair .  All quite commonplace and usual. Not so with tattoos and various piercings which are often viewed as being ‘out of the norm’.

 

Reading The Rules

 

Maybe it all comes down to this : how you read the rules. What message do you receive? What filters are you using to interpret them? Did your family always follow the rules?  Were you punished severely as a child for not following the rules? Are you too scared or frightened to be different, act different, look different?  And lastly if you did break a few rules, what are the perceived consequences?

 I may be playing the devils advocate here, but having stretched my mind around these concepts a few times myself, I thought I would put some feelers out and see what you think about these ideas.

 

Just Me

 

Maybe I’m the one whose got it all wrong though. Perhaps we should all be following the rules. After all they are there for a reason. Society could not function without them, right?  Anarchy would result and society would become dysfunctional without them. No dysfunction in society right now though – oh, mmm, okay maybe a little!

 

The Last Bit

 

Anyhow, that’s my musings for today. Not too much there about weight loss, per se, but plenty I think about acceptability, conformity and happiness, which are all issues that are very relevant to us on our weight loss journeys. 

Love to hear from you today. If you have the time I’d love for you to share some of your own experiences with breaking the rules.

How did you feel?

Were there any positive benefits or outcomes?

Is expressing yourself your way and taking things as they come more important to you than rigid rules and commandments?

 

The Second Last Bit

 

I think you know what my views are, but as I said perhaps I’m just an outspoken lefty whose got it all wrong. Let me know what ya’ think, friends.

Also, stay tuned next week for Part 2 of this post: Weight Loss, Society and Following The Rules: Who Has A Vested Interest In Your Progress?

Ciao All. Have A Happy Weekend,

Mon

xo

PS Oh and why the picture of the palm trees and beach? Because it’s two weeks until my beach holiday and I can’t wait!