Live Below the Line - The Final Chapter
So here we are, out the other side of a tough 5 day ordeal, so you may be wondering dear reader, what am I thinking? how am I feeling? and more than anything how good was the HSP? Well hold on tight because all those question and more will be answered in the paragraphs to follow.
First and foremost, I am just pleased to be finished, to be able to eat jelly again is nothing short of blissful. However as I've mentioned in previous posts I have found this challenge to be quite enlightening and have learnt a lot about myself and gained a bit of perspective that I may have otherwise missed, so today I'm going to focus on that.
During the challenge my friends and I were discussing how all the time we see people order too much food and leave half of it behind or throw it out. Opting for the large when a medium would perhaps suffice. And I get it, sometimes you simply feel more hungry before a meal than during. However the bigger question is where did this notion of absurd serving sizes come about and how did we become so out of touch with our bodies in terms of what they need and what is reasonable. Truth is, Australia has a 'big' problem with obesity (huh, get it, 'big'. classic.) and I think this stems from a few different sources, (sauces, huh, gottem again.) these being the amounts of sugar in our food, the size of our food and the sheer amount of available food. Unfortunately none of these are really directly actionable, we can of course have a small instead of a large or ignore the food on offer at a party, but that ignores the larger part of the problem. Doing this challenge though has had a big impact in this area for me though as being hungry all the time and eating much less than usual has not only allowed me to step into the shoes of someone else, but also made me acutely aware of every bit of food I ate, and others ate.
By this I mean that during the last week anytime I was out with people I noticed we were eating and this constant reminded me how embedded it is in our culture, how casual we are with food, when so many lack this privilege, in our own country and across the world. I sincerely hope that we can address this balance, as like any commodity or object of value it is consumed by the powerful and the greedy.
To summarise what I have learnt from the challenge I would say it pays greatly to be aware of the circumstances of those around you, and that not just thinking about what you can do but acting on what you can do can be incredibly powerful, for yourself, the country and even the world.
I read recently in a book I'm reading called Focus, that the 'powerful' member of a conversation will pay less attention to the 'lower class' participant in the conversation, as it seems that powerful people quickly lose touch, and struggle to connect and empathise with others, therefore I urge you all, as I urge myself to be wary of becoming disengaged with people, look for those less fortunate and really connect with them.
Of course by now you must be thinking, but wait a minute, didn't you say you were going to tell us how good that HSP was? And you'd be right of course I did say that, but I will keep it concise. It was beautiful, not just the meal and the diabetes inducing number of calories, but I mean going with friends who have also completed the challenge. The shared sense of achievement and pride in knowing that we had done something good was palpable and upon reflection that's what has stood out throughout this challenge that what we can achieve for others is multiplied exponentially by working together. (Also yes, I meant that figuratively for you maths majors out there who are currently whipping out a pencil to work out how many people it will take to achieve world peace with exponential growth.) All jokes aside it was a wonderful experience and I hope that the difference our team made can have great impact, and that we may all grow not in the waist, but in our understanding of one another.
That's me for tonight, I'll be back soon though. I have some good ideas for some new posts which I'm keen to get rolling. Also I don't know why there were so many bad jokes and puns in this post, guess it must just be that kind of night. But thanks for reading, and I'll catch you on the flip-side.
- etopiei (8/5/17) Bit late I know, sorry guys.