I'm a frequent DailyBlogTips reader. Their articles offer heaps of helpful of insight and normally end on a thought-provoking or positive note, leaving me motivated to make General Overachiever the best it can be. However, by the time I reached the end of last Friday's post, I felt little more than bewilderment and queasiness.
The article addressed the topics of membership sites and generating income on the internet, and the author focused on the story of a woman named Donna Simpson. Donna currently weighs 320 kilos (704 lbs), and her goal is to win the title of heaviest person in the world at 460 kilos (over 1,000 lbs).
While on the path to achieving her goal, she has created a website at which paying members can watch videos of her as she eats, goes shopping and performs other daily activities. According to the DailyBlogTips article, Donna makes around $8,000 per month doing this. Now that's good money.
But I'd like to ask Donna if the money and attention are worth such a limiting quality of life.
While she deserves praise for her goal-oriented efforts, she also raises a lot of questions on the value of publicity. How is she able to even enjoy the fruits of her income when she must devote each day to consuming at least 12,000 calories, restricting her physical movement and battling the obvious health complications that accompany such a hefty weight?
On a wider scale (no pun intended), her actions are quite a springboard for a discussion on compromise. What would you sacrifice in order to maintain financial stability or to gain publicity?
I would happily trade a roomy apartment for a shoebox, for example, if it meant financial stability.
TV? Don't need one.
Expensive clothes? Eh.
Central air conditioning? Not necessary.
But the ability to walk, run and climb stairs without restriction? No way. That's gotta stay.
What would you never give up? Where do you draw the line, and why? How far is too far, or is it all relative?
Like most things "it's all relative". Humans are amazing in their adaptability. Sometimes either due to force, laziness, or depression we can let ourselves endure what we thought was impossible, for better or for worse.
ReplyDeleteObviously this woman has wreaked havoc on her body, and allowed herself to become a sideshow for the willing viewer. She also has an entrepenual spirit. It can be easy to push the line, and let it go on for longer than we should.
Perhaps I am begining that downturn myself. I have let myself get lazy and hardly exercise at all. I also have a desk job all day, across town in the midwest. All sitting all the time. And not one visit to my parent's home does someone fail to mention my weight and comment on it. The funny thing is the more people comment, the more I don't want to do anything about it. At what point do I stop, and change my habits? Could I live without cheeseburgers? Could I live with less time for blogging, for family and friends, and spending that time on exercise?
"Could I live with less time for blogging, for family and friends, and spending that time on exercise?"
ReplyDeleteTime management. Oooooooh, it's tricky. I struggle with this, too. The balance of blogging/networking time, job application time, work time, apartment upkeep time, friends/loved ones time, "me" time...it becomes so difficult to prioritize when they all seem to need your attention simultaneously. When they're all important, how do you decide where to cut back?