ClydeStyle

Category: Crisis

  • Advantage: Profit and the people lose again

    Who doesn’t enjoy a good burger with fries and a cold drink? I mean, we are in the middle of summer, and there are so many places to get a burger.

    McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Culver’s, Checkers, Sonic, and Hardee’s can all give you the typical burger, fries, and drink combo. But at what cost?

    When we eat these foods, it is rare that we consider the residual effects of this choice. If we did consider it, we would not eat it. I wish all we had to worry about was the calories. A typical combo meal from any of the restaurants named would be over 1,000 calories — easily. And if we brought in carbs, fats, and sodium, you could have a heart attack just thinking about it.

    The larger chain restaurants are even worse. Chili’s, Applebee’s, Cheddars, and even Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Outback are far worse than the fast food joints.

    The reason? They are in business to make money by any means necessary, and if that means over time, millions will suffer from degenerative diseases related to obesity — oh well!

    These restaurants are giving customers what they want. For most of us, if you put a plant-based burger with lentils, beans, and mushrooms as its base next to a quarter pound beef burger seasoned well, the choice (based on taste) would be the beef burger.

    Further, if you tell us the consequences of eating both, most folks won’t care. They will make statements like, “Well, we all gotta die of something.”

    By this same logic, why would anyone save money, buy stocks, have a 401k, or invest anything in the future? Our eating decisions will ensure we won’t be around to enjoy it.

    It is hard to blame the restaurants for making a buck, and they have the nutritional information available for everyone to see.

    In the US, there are 119.9 million people with high blood pressure and 38.4 million diabetics. Heart disease is still the number one killer in America, and 40 percent of all citizens are obese which is about 100 million. The lion’s share of this is based on what we eat. You could work out for five days and literally undo your progress over the weekend by eating at the restaurants listed.

    The Food and Drug Administration could do something about this. It controls the ingredients used. They won’t because too much money is spent treating our sickness, and too many lobbyists have dispersed checks for their silence.

    YOU have to make YOU better, or the advantage will stay with profit.

  • Please, allow crazy to be crazy!

    As mental health awareness month comes to a close, I want to encourage everyone to empty your lives of as much drama and craziness as possible. You have been carrying it or them for too long!

    There are some lives that follow social norms and others that don’t. Although anyone can experience a trial or tribulation at any time, it seems that the more logical thinking people tend to avoid strife better.

    As for others, drama seems to follow bad decision making. It also follows bad relationships. Have you ever met someone who loves to argue? And they argue about everything. There are extreme in their thinking, they have a sense of entitlement, and they don’t seem to be happy unless they are trying to control you!

    These same people masquerade as our friend until things don’t go their way. We waste a lot of time trying to apply logic to these relationships to no avail. These people are not logical, so no logic can be used in dealing with them.

    Now, I realize that some of these people are relatives, and you’re wondering how can you abandon the family? Well, how can you keep strife around?

    My professional advice is to give these illogical people some time to miss you. Don’t make a big production about it, just easy up on your availability. You will find that living with less stress is worth it.

    A Yale University study found that chronic stress can shorten your life. Also, researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare calculated the effects of multiple risk factors, including lifestyle-related ones, to the life expectancy of men and women and found that  being under heavy stress shortens your life by 2.8 years.

    Further research has shown that overreacting, constantly worrying, and living in a state of perpetual anxiety can reduce life expectancy.

    So for this cause, when someone proves to lack judgment and  be a destruction to their own life, you owe it to yourself to allow them to just be.

  • Shame on the media

    My first professional job when I graduated from Western Michigan University was an editor position with a bi-weekly newspaper in Dearborn, MI. I loved being a part of the media. I was dubbed “the next Bryant Gumball” in my undergraduate years. Journalism still had integrity and a sense of responsibility to the public.

    Ben Franklin and his brother coined the process years ago for media to be more of a watchdog and informer to the public and they were even arrested for telling the truth about government policies that were not helpful to the public.

    Back during the Vietnam War the media played a major role informing the public about what was really happening. They showed the horror of war, the coffins and casualties and exposed the lies from the government which led to mass protests and the eventually end to that foolishness.

    When the Watergate scandal happened the New York Times and the Washington Post among other outlets were like a hungry dog going after a bone to expose the lies and attempts to cover up wrongdoing.

    Walter Cronkite worked for CBS for 19 years and was named the most trusted man in America. Character, integrity, truthful, honest and compassionate were the adjectives to describe him. Today, we have lost sight of these words. Like all things with Capitalism someone decided to begin doing the news for profit and literally killed all credibility.

    What does the resource section of the library do when the non-fiction books become fiction in order to gain more readers? This is what has happened to our media system. Now, there is no filter and anything can be said at anytime without proof. Truth is now a perspective and the absolute part of it has been executed.

    America no longer wants truth. It wants an opinion that it agrees with and truth does not have to take part in it.

    The media has done the unthinkable: To go from being an informative advocate for the communities to bringing fears, opinions and falsehoods to mainstream for the purposes of engaging the emotions of the communities for profit.

    The media has become the greatest threat to American democracy.

  • Death: Life’s greatest interruption

    There are many interruptions in life. Some good and some bad but still there are interruptions. We struggle to deal with the bad interruptions and subconsciously we know that there is a fix. We know that in most cases its just a matter of time before we figure out how to deal with it.

    Death seems to be a horse of a different color. Death is multiple problems at once and it’s so final! We don’t prepare for death well although we know it’s a part of life. We don’t like to plan it, talk about it, financially prepare for it or share a plan with our loved ones. We “tap out” so fast on the topic and it’s one of those conversations that we’ll have only when forced to.

    But death doesn’t ha e to be such a burden. There is a way to embrace death that would make it pleasant for everyone involved– included the one who dies.

    Physically, if you lead your life without regret and keep your body physically strong, you should have a long and healthy physical like. Good decisions consistently make for a great mental disposition and living a life full of expressions where you aren’t afraid to cry, scream, yell or love when it’s appropriate will make for great emotional stability.

    Spiritually speaking, understanding where you will spend eternity makes death more of a partner or friend than an interruption. The reason is because it will carry you to a better place.

    Whatever your lot, it would be a good practice to ready yourself and your family for the day that is inevitable — your death!

  • The crisis of meaning

    With all the things that have happened since 2020 begin from the beginning of the pandemic to election issues and challenges with democracy, to job creation, gas prices, police shootings and the war in Ukraine, it’s befitting that some folks would start questioning everything and having doubts about who they are, the meaning of life and overall purpose. If you are serious about life, maturity will bring you to this point where you begin to wonder whether or not you have the correct understanding of things or that you really believe what you were told growing up.

    This feeling is difficult. It’s where you begin to search for what life really means to you. This can even be dangerous at times because for some the thought process spirals out of control to the point where they actually believe in their heart that the world would be a better place without them. Some begin to suffer severe depression based on their new found discoveries about life or themselves. This is the time when reality becomes real.

    It seems that tragedy brings about these thoughts. It normally happens when you feel the world around you is closing in on you. Things begin the change around you too fast and for a long time you have not been happy. There is a word for this. It is called an existential crisis.

    Formally, in psychology and psychotherapy, existential crises are inner conflicts characterized by the impression that life lacks meaning. These conflicts will keep you up at night. They will also make you cry, feel depressed and even betrayed.

    The year is halfway over and depending how 2022 has treated you, you might find yourself dealing with this now. If you are I want to give you some tips to make it through successfully. The first thing is you need someone who you trust. This is a person who will keep your confidence and is a good listener. You DO NOT need someone to tell you want to do or what to think — this was probably the problem in the beginning. You need a guide. This would be someone who you believe is living the life you hope to have. It’s an experienced person so they wouldn’t necessarily be in your age range. Look to the immediate generation ahead of you.

    You also must be honest about your feelings. I had a client that discovered that she had quite a few relatives who were racist and that she hated those views but was conflicted because these were family members she loved. Their views were not her views but since they had the same DNA she felt that she must be racist too. It took us some time but she discovered she could pick and choose the parts of her family she loved and hated and for her to remain balanced, she had to speak out against the behavior she hated and embrace the person with love.

    The final stage is to take your time. The process could take months or years to complete. You will make progress along the way but it should not be rushed and the purpose of it all is for you to become a better you!