Oprah’s Shining Example

I’ve always respected Oprah for her entrepreneurial spirit and her candid approach to life. For her to have risen from her childhood background to become the best known TV personality in the world is an astonishing achievement. A few weeks ago, my respect for her rose another couple of notches, when she came out. No, she’s not gay. She came out of the overweight closet, which is one of the most difficult of all for her to be in, because it’s a tough thing for a celebrity to hide.

Oprah went public in an interview and didn’t try to gloss over the shame and embarrassment she felt at being 40 pounds overweight. She admitted that she was angry with herself for allowing this to happen. Having been recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism, she could easily have hidden behind that disorder. But she didn’t. Instead, she said, “It was a fat sentence because I thought, ‘Well, now it doesn’t matter; I’ve got a thyroid problem.’”

Oprah also admitted that she had been suffering from depression without realizing it, thinking that she “couldn’t be depressed.” Like many people who struggle with their weight, she turns to food for comfort. “For me it’s not a cosmetic issue. It’s an emotional issue,” she said. “When my engine runs down, my drug of choice is food. My drug of choice used to be potato chips. Now, this year, it was organic multigrain blue chips … but a bag of them. So you eat a bag of those a day, and see what happens if you’re not working out.” She then talked about the plans she has for changing this situation and getting back to being what she describes as “her own first priority”.

There are things we can all learn from Oprah’s honesty. Although most people understand on an intellectual level that wealth and fame don’t guarantee happiness, Oprah provided us with a shining example of this. It’s easy to think, “Wow, with all her power, influence and wealth she should be happy.” But “should-be’s” don’t work that way. Oprah’s a human being just like the rest of us. All the fame and wealth in the world don’t matter a damn when you’re struggling with difficult challenges, issues or tragedies in your life.

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that Oprah is a perfectionist and drives herself too hard in building and maintaining her media empire. The desire for perfectionism is a curse, because it makes you strive for something that ceases to exist the moment you achieve it. As soon as we achieve what we think of as perfection, human nature kicks in and we want to make it even better. So off we go again. The only things in our lives that can be described as perfect are those with which we’re already satisfied and don’t feel the need to improve.

So thanks Oprah, for reminding us what’s really important in life.

These are the kinds of issues I touch on in my book, Stop Worrying and Start Living. Striving for perfection is a contributor to stress and anxiety and I have some suggestions for overcoming this and other kinds of self-induced worry that have worked for me. You can check out this book by clicking on the link in the right hand panel of this blog. Thanks for visiting with me.