“Get fabulous flat abs in only 16 minutes a day!”
Wow, only sixteen minutes? Why, that sounds easy enough. I’m sure I have sixteen minutes to spare. The girl in the photo sure has flat abs. Maybe if I spend sixteen minutes a day, I’ll look like her too. So I look at the miraculous exercises. Um, no. Only a twenty-something year old masochistic contortionist could do those. Guess I won’t get those flat abs.
“Eat these foods for younger skin.” Well, I’d certainly like to have younger skin for this older body. So I look at the foods suggested. All right, out of the ten foods shown, I’ll eat maybe two of them. The others I’ll have to pass on. And I’ve been eating those two all my life, so is my skin younger than it may have been if I hadn’t eaten those foods?
Or maybe I can try one of the newly-discovered rare fruits that was just found on a tiny island off the coast of Bora Bora and is guaranteed to melt cellulite. Finally I can get rid of my cellulite! But when I find out that two ounces of the fruit’s pure serum is a mere hundred dollars, I must resist the urge to buy. No doubt next year the fruit will be known to produce warts and orange skin making the user resemble a poisonous toad.
Yes, everyday, there are offers that promise to change my physical appearance or make me stronger or smarter, but most of them I will decline. So does that mean I don’t really want to change? No, but I can choose what changes I am willing to make or not.
As a writer, my work is edited and critiqued by others. At first, I chafed at the suggestions to change what I’d written. But I’ve learned to pay attention to those suggestions if I want my writing to be the very best it can be. I’ve changed my attitude and opened my mind to what others notice that is missing or wrong. However, I can accept those changes or I can reject them. I don’t have to accept all of them, nor should I reject all of them. I can choose which ones to change or not.
With my physical body, I’ve learned what I can do to improve and I don’t have to change everything and try everything. I can choose healthy foods over unhealthy foods, and I can add more exercise to my normal routine.
In writing, change can be good. It’s a choice. So choose wisely, my friend, because no one wants to look like an orange toad.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 (KJV)
Marilyn, this is GREAT! Can’t wait to read the rest! You grab attention at the first sentence, you get to the point, you are humble and honest, and you keep it short and readable. Thank you!!!!