I have been rabbiting on about anti-fatigue moisturiser for a while, whenever I have seen the TV ad. I know it’s a men’s product but it’s the message that bothers me. What it seems to be saying is that when you are so tired that it shows in your face, you can put on this magic potion and hey presto! you won’t look tired any more! Then you can carry on with all the very important things you have to do and it will all BE OK. No mention, of course, of the fact that you will still feel dreadful.
I can’t tell you how wrong I think this is. We (both men and women) are living beings. If your dog, cat, horse or goldfish was very tired would you do some thing to make them look ok and then make them carry on? Or how about your child? Of course you wouldn’t. You’d find a way to let them rest, and then you’d make a mental note to avoid letting them get that tired in future. Wouldn’t you?
So how about, instead of anti-fatigue moisturiser (aka carry on regardless and make yourself ill) ads, we had look after your body ads?
Tired, overworked? It shows in your face! Emergency!!! Lie down now and rest so your body and mind can repair themselves. Then think carefully about how you can avoid this sort of damaging crisis in future.
Ok, so I can’t see that happening soon and anyway where is the profit in that? At least in the short term. But the more you look at these two contrasting messages, the more the anti-fatigue moisturiser message looks really crazy. We only have our bodies to live in. You may believe (as I do) that we are spiritual beings having a human experience but we all have to accept the facts of our current biological status. What does it say about our society that we accept messages telling us to keep pushing ourselves when our biology is telling us we have already done too much? We wouldn’t do that to our cars, for goodness’ sake.
So this is my message for today. Tired? Rest. Even lie down. Do less. When you are 80, you will be grateful that you did. Have a great Sunday.
Very well put x