So for the last 2 weeks, Jill and I have been doing this thing called ‘Magic Meals’ … which is basically a service where every morning, all your days food is brought to your door so you can eat healthily.
The company ensures all the food is nutritionally balanced for your needs and ensures there’s always a nice variety so you don’t get sick of eating tuna salad 3 times a day.
And you know what … it’s bloody good and its bloody easy.
Sure, there’s the odd thing that tastes of rubber … and only having the bare minimum of carbs is abit of a pain [I am half Italian afterall] but even though it costs abit … I have to say it is bloody worth it especially as I feel and look a hell of a lot healthier than normal, ha!
Hell, it even gave me an excuse to buy a sort-of gadget for my office …
However while I am glad to be getting back on the straight and narrow of health, it does highlight the sad fact that I – and millions like me – have succumbed to one of two debilitating illnesses …
1 Work Over Life
2 Instant Gratification Disease
The bit that bothers me most is that I think I suffer abit from both ‘ailments’ – and I am sure I am not alone.
I can’t remember the last time I went home on time … and the last time I had a week of eating home cooked, healthy meals was probably when I was a kid. Then there’s the fact I rarely get to have uninterrupted free time – even though it is often nothing more than an enquiring SMS.
The problem is we have put less and less importance on our lives.
For many people, everything comes before looking after ourselves – and we validate all our hard efforts by buying even more pointless tat [mini-fridge anyone!?] and slowly drowning in a sea of debt. And we all know it but we continue to do it.
I am very, very, very lucky to have some cash that allows me to do this sort of thing – because quite frankly, if I didn’t, I’d probably need a heart-attack or something to ‘shock’ me into the straight and narrow.
The added problem is that companies … and ad agencies … are latching onto this ‘trend‘ and rather than actually helping people fight to gain back their life, they are – in the main – actually pushing them further into the prison of helplessness.
From instant ‘sort-of’ healthy meals … through to Blackberries … through to peeled oranges … through to internet shopping … through to ‘mini-breaks’ … through to ‘Don’t Live A Life Of Regret’ style advertising … through to, well you get my point.
The opportunity for a brand to be a ‘champion for the really important things in life’ is there for the taking – and while some like the quite brilliant TESCO’s have done some fantastic stuff [as have NIKE with their ‘Mothers Group Running Club’], they are still in the minority and I truly believe this is a massive opportunity for any brand/agency with the foresight, passion and balls to make it happen.
I’ll push as hard as I can and I urge you lot to do the same but in the meantime, I promise to try and get my life back under abit more control – but when you have people working with you like the people I have working with me, it’s harder than scaling Everest! Ha
