Am I Being Negative?

I'm sitting in front of the TV eating hard, oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies that I really don’t like and watching Oprah spill her guts. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, then you may not know that she’s gained 40 pounds in the last two years and has decided that this year she’s going to take care of herself and lose it.

Now I know this is supposed to be a positive show for people. We’re all supposed to say it’s ok to fall off the wagon as long as we get back on because Oprah has and whatever she says is ok. Don’t get me wrong. I think she truly wants to help the world and that she does a lot of great things for the world. Yes, I do watch her show a lot, and yes, she does influence my thinking and actions at times. But please!!

As I sit here watching her and her trainer talk about what happened to cause the weight gain, I keep thinking how can the average person ever hope to get her life in order if Oprah can’t. I mean let’s look at her life. She is one of the richest women in the world. She’s one of the most admired women in the world. She rubs elbows with presidents and Nobel prize winners. She has Bob Greene as a friend and trainer. Drs. Oz and Phil are probably on her speed dial. She has a gym and a kitchen in her studio. And even though she says she makes turkey meatballs on Sunday afternoon for the week and to check out the recipe on Oprah.com, I’m thinking she has a chef at each of her homes. She has assistants and dressers and make up artists and hair stylists. And yet I’m supposed to believe that she fell off the wagon because she’s missing something in her life and didn’t take time for herself? I’m supposed to believe that her doctors didn’t realize she had a thyroid problem that started all this and then not one friend said to her, "Hey! You aren’t taking care of yourself and you need to."

Come on! This is one time I think she’s deluding herself. She needs a new doctor and new friends who will take better care of her. And while I think she will help many people get their lives in order this time as she has in the past, I wonder if she should be the leader this time. I think she’s still deluding herself. I keep thinking what a real mess her life would be if she weren’t Oprah.

I wish you well, Oprah. But I keep thinking that if you can’t get your shit together with all the resources you have, what hope do the rest of us have?

I don’t have the answers either. So I’m just going to cheer myself up with another cookie.