Your Best Life

By Diana Vahedi

It seems like everyone today is a guru when it comes to leading a happy and healthy life. They know what to do to help you find that one and only soul mate you’ve been searching for your entire life, to landing that dream job!!! They know what to do to help you have the most mind blowing sex and they can even advise you on what to do to make everyone love you. You wanna be happy, do these five things every day when you wake up? You wanna be successful? Stop making to do lists and think positive thoughts. They can even tell you the best ways to get rid of stretch marks, age spots, baby pooch, wrinkles, fine lines, varicose veins, skin tags, bloated belly, and flabby thighs. Heck, there’s a guru for everything. Pop a pill, say a prayer, join hands and sing kumbaya. Just follow these steps to live your best life. Can I get an amen.

Sorry, I got a little carried away there. But, what does that really mean? What is your best life? The media plies us with all these professionals, life coaches, and let’s not forget, Dr. Oz dictating what needs to be done in order to be, well, perfect and happy. It’s as though all of our problems would magically disappear if we whitened our teeth more often and repeated the phrase, “I am good enough” in the mirror as soon as we woke up in the morning. There’s lollipops with laxatives in them that will help you lose weight, gummy bears that promote hair growth, fit teas to make us fit, but actually destroy our intestines and let’s not forget my all-time favorite, the skechers sneakers that firm and tone your butt while you walk. Just lace up and firm up and you’ll be bootylicious in no time. Remember that saying, if it’s too good to be true……….?

The media has always bombarded us with these kinds of messages since the advent of radio back in the day. Heck, soap operas were mini skits to get you to buy soap and now Luke and Laura’s wedding on General Hospital is the most popular in soap opera history. And, there’s a line of Dove body wash to keep your skin, silky smooth for your man!!! They mold our minds as a sculptor molds and plies his clay into a desired shape. This is what you need to buy, to do, to wear, to say to have your best life. Just do it! Ooops, I just stole Nike’s slogan.

As I have spent the last three months in quarantine lying on the couch binge watching Netflix, while wearing the same comfortable, black yoga pants almost every day, showering and washing my hair a lot less often and not even wearing lipstick (I never leave the house without lipstick!) I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve actually had many epiphanies, but the most important one is no amount of pills, fit teas, hair loss gummy bears, or self-help books are going to create your best life. That comes from what you have on the inside. It comes from inner strength, self-confidence and above all else, resilience. those are your magic elixirs. That comes from realizing that life is going to throw you curve balls from time to time and you need to keep swinging. Life is going to throw you down to the ground and try to beat the shit out of you, but you still get up and keep moving forward. As Rocky would say, “That’s how winning is done!” Once you hit rock bottom, use that as your foundation to build yourself up. Your best life is not out there in the pages of Cosmo magazine or on Dr. Phil’s stage, it’s inside of you, within your reach. Be brave, be bold, be daring, be best. But don’t be afraid to create your version of your best life. Now I have to go and make some fit tea for a friend of course.