There is an alarming trend nowadays to strive for a social media declared “perfection” at any price. I was slowly becoming aware of this disturbing trend when I opened up Instagram one day and a top fitness model was advocating having a rib removed to lengthen the waist. I nearly died. Folks, bone surgery is a serious matter. Your red blood cells and platelets are made in your bones so if you get an infection in your bones, it can spread quickly. Other lymphocytes begin life here and go to the lymphatic system to finish formation. Having a bone randomly removed to achieve an artificial standard of beauty is a dangerous gamble.

I well remember more than one trend in “beauty” for women. As a young child I was encouraged to pattern myself after the busty models of Hollywood at the time. Their measurements were about as realistic as the original Barbie. Silicon breast implants were a thing then and they were usually mounted on a woman with an otherwise small frame, the waist measurement sometimes touted as being as small as 17 inches. Soon after this came the super-thin, anorexic high fashion model who looked as if her photo shoot had to have been done in ICU. Then there was a backlash and everybody got fat. The problem was, not too long after THAT…came the Britney Spears britches hanging on by a thread with a fully exposed midriff and those midriffs usually didn’t look like Britney’s. Walmart was a sight during that time! Then there was another backlash and everybody got fat again…

Oh, God, let’s not forget the “thigh gap”. There is no time and no place where food is available that the thigh gap is occurring naturally. Who decided that this was attractive? Personally, I don’t really believe it was most men. I have it on good authority that this is not something that they desire in a woman. And now we’re in the butt era which is actually a pretty good measure of fitness when that butt is natural, but when it’s inflated with artificial fillers at a block party, sometimes people die.

This artificially induced standard also affects men. There is “Stature Lengthening” surgery that is pretty horrific. A special type of “nail” is inserted in the bones of the limbs after the bone is “separated” and periodically the nail is adjusted to lengthen the bone. This process takes one to two years, and one of the Centers that performs it warns on their website that it may result in chronic pain and disability. There are practical applications for this process but it appears to have gone rogue in some practices and is being considered an elective, cosmetic procedure. I cannot even imagine how bad this could get.

I have an article that I saved to my phone home screen that I show young men occasionally. It is the story of how one body building champion preps for a photo shoot. This young man ingested 5 doses of a diuretic within 18 hours, along with 3 gallons of water to make his muscles appear more cut. The nurse in me was just horrified. It’s a wonder he didn’t die.

While we never intend to give license to be mediocre, the pursuit of an unhealthy standard of attractiveness is one of the most detrimental things that you can do for your physical and mental health. We are bombarded with artificial images of professional models who will literally do anything to make money in a cutthroat business where the standard has become a plastic fantasy. Because their livelihoods depend on creating this illusion, a bit of photo altering is also considered acceptable. If one does it, they all have to do it to remain competitive. One night I saw another top model who had not properly positioned her photographer to video her workout and her cellulite was on full display. That video didn’t stay up very long.

Did you know that one of the most beautiful models on IG is a doll? Seriously, a plastic doll. Try to imitate that.

At David’s Way we promote a totally achievable goal. Be the best that you can be. It’s that simple. It’s not easy because to be the best that you can be takes a lot of hard work. It takes time and patience and tons of commitment. It takes walking away when everyone else is indulging in unhealthy habits and foods. It takes going to sleep instead of going to the party. It takes study and a commitment to excellence. While this is not an easy path to walk, it is fulfilling. We were intended to be amazing creatures with amazing bodies and capabilities. Anything less is simply not living up to our potential.

Being the best that you can be will create an attractive, sexy, natural, healthy body that will stand the test of time. The “get gorgeous fast” route won’t do that. Quite often these Frankensteinian procedures go wrong and people wind up looking like they were in a terrible accident and could not be fixed. There are enough true tragedies that can befall human beings that it is obscene to inflict some of these insults on an otherwise healthy body.

One of the reasons that people do this stuff is the same reason that they buy into fad diets. They believe it to be easier than making a commitment to live a healthy lifestyle. While some of the initial procedures may be quick, the recovery time and the after effects of a procedure gone wrong are not. You may spend years trying to correct a botched procedure and lose most of your money and health in the process. There is no shortcut to healthy. You must create it. The artificial images that we are bombarded with appear to be healthy but remember, most of what you see is an illusion created to make that person a celebrity. Do you really believe that a body that has been riddled by chemical insult and random, elective surgeries is healthy? That body is in a constant state of repair, not vibrancy. Don’t try to take the short route. You very well may come to a dead-end road.

I talk about David’s advice to “Trust the process.” frequently because that is the key to longevity in fitness. If we have goals that we are continually working towards, the process will unfold slowly and magnificently. There is never a reason or a place to quit because in the trusting of the process, we are forever looking ahead to what we will become tomorrow and basking in the glow of what we have already accomplished. Trusting the process is a lifetime program and a lifetime commitment that creates new life and energy every day. This is a concept of life as opposed to the artificial standards that are actually a concept of death because in that concept, we are forever denied the satisfaction of seeing our strength and fitness naturally increase due to thriving health and robust strength that comes from the application of a healthy lifestyle.

I have often heard it said that, “I would look like that if I had that kind of money.” Guess what…You can look better. You don’t need a lot of money to avoid sugar and work out. As Nike says, “Just Do It.” Actually, David says that too. Quit using a lack of a lot of cash as an excuse for mediocrity and get to work producing your best self. As you travel the road to health and fitness you very well may pass some of those social media icons as they exit for the bar or the hospital. I’ve noticed that most of them frequent both places pretty often. Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The hare put on quite a show but in the long run, the tortoise took home the gold.