POSITIVE THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

The people who look after health and wellbeing are doing a great job. We've had free health-checks, links to help us stop smoking, positive thoughts, motivational quotes of the week and all sorts.

Although, I did think they might have run out of ideas yesterday when  HR's Positive Thought For The Week was... (and I'm not making this up):

"Uuuuuuuuuur Ahhhhhrrrrrr Uhrrr Ahhhhrrrrr Aaaargh"  - Chewbacca.

Boy, you said it Chewie.

It's nice that they're looking after us. We even got an invite to a talk with Sharon from Slimming World about healthy eating. It occurred to me that if we all took up healthy eating, Sharon from Slimming World would probably be out of a job. I guessed that her presentation might be a thinly disguised sales pitch for new customers.

I went to one of those once (not Slimming World I should add). It was a thrill-ride of a guilt trip. Look at these lovely doughnuts, mmmm, glazed icing, sugary perfection coating a deliciously soft interior with succulent strawberry jam oozing deliciously from within, floating you away into a taste sensa...POISON! POISON CAKES! THEY'LL KILL YOU, THEY'LL KILL YOU ALL!

To be fair, she was probably right - doughnuts are like little hand-grenades for your insides, but there was no need for that.

My friend Tom once wanted to produce a nutrition booklet. It was a sheet of plain A4 paper folded in two. On the front he'd written "How Not To Get Fat" and on the inside, printed in Arial bold 18 pt font, it simply said: "Burn up more calories than you take in."

He's grown up a bit nowadays has Tom.

So I didn't go along to the talk with Sharon from Slimming World. I did notice however that Slimming World's logo includes the phrase "Slimming World: Because you are amazing"

Well, I agree there, Slimming World, but I'm not sure that's a suitable reason to go along. Surely people go to things like that because they recognise that they're not quite as amazing as they'd like to be?

In fact, even if they're trying to say it's because you could feel amazing about yourself if you looked after yourself, it's still suggesting that you're not actually that amazing and you need the help of Sharon from Slimming World to see it.

Listen, your amazingness has absolutely nothing to do with your weight and you shouldn't let anyone tell you otherwise - not the sex-obsessed media, not your friends, not your family, and especially not Sharon from Slimming World.

You're amazing because you're designed perfectly to be you, the only one of you there will ever be. You're amazing because nobody else thinks quite like you, no-one has that unique combination of characteristics that make you you and no-one else can be a better you than you can. If that means getting fit, awesome - join a gym. If that means learning stuff and discovering new things - fantastic - get reading! Do fun stuff, hang out with awesome people and make a difference!

You can be amazing because you are amazing.

Or as Chewbacca might put it: "Uuuuuuuuuur Ahhhhhrrrrrr Uhrrr Ahhhhrrrrr Aaaargh"