It seems like it has been quite a few years since the fitness and health world has been overflown by supplements. We get everything from electrolytes, vitamins, dry offals, and 20 types of grass in one pill. More omega-3, less omega-6. Pre-workouts, post-workouts, mid-workouts. Surprisingly, one constant in that world is creatine.
If we take the stuff we will sleep better, have more energy, lose weight, gain weight, and have less mental fog or more mental fog.
Ultimately, there is a promise of productivity and happiness in a pill, which is obviously healthy because what you are lacking is not changing sausages and chips for non-process meats and vegetables. It’s a tablet of electrolytes and probiotics because that’s why you feel that you don’t have energy and are bloated.
I feel we got to the same point with mindfulness. Supplements for the body, mindfulness for the mind!
Do 10 minutes of mindfulness a day to be happy, productive, and satisfied with life! Just for £12.99 a month or £9.99 if you buy two years in advance. Or half a year of in-person classes for £549.99. #noRefunds #notMedicalAdvice
Who in the white-collar western world hasn’t had a mindfulness app installed, just to use it five times? Out of the same group of people, how many have a supplement drawer somewhere, where most of it already expired? And then you chug it out when you move house or when you refurbish a room?
Do you feel you lack energy? NOT ENOUGH MINERALS!!
Do you feel angst, long-term anxiety from the cost of living, or a difficult time at work or with family? 10 minutes of mindfulness! You will be smiling like all the grannies in life insurance ads. They all got the payout after their partner died. Finally, that old git won’t hold them back!
But you know what? All of it is somehow good. What’s annoying is that promise of a wonderful successful life with that one change. All of a sudden you will be that person standing in the corner glass office looking at the Manhattan from 50th floor, with your hands behind your back nodding deeply. That any of those will have an immediate and massive impact on your life. Like it was the last missing piece of the puzzle which we call our lives.
If the supplements will get you to be more aware of your health and will ignite a lifelong interest in how to improve your diet and exercise, brilliant!
Most people get to mindfulness through unhappiness or suffering, for lack of a better word, and that is a great motivator. If the goal is happiness in 30 days, you will be disappointed and you might just decide to never pursue it again. So better to lower your expectations and see where it takes you.
The expectations for results from both mindfulness and food supplements are just way too high in our ads-driven world.
Disclaimer: I have spent more than £300 on supplements and mindfulness apps. That handsome fella in the picture might and might not be me.
Just above average 