IRONIC…

Isn’t it ironic…Only a few years ago, we giggled about popstar Michael Jackson’s habit of wearing surgical masks in public.  Today, wearing a face mask has suddenly become a hot commodity due to the spread of the Coronavirus. 

Did you know, that before the outbreak of the virus, China used to export almost 700 000 surgical masks per month? Now the amount is zero, the government has taken over manufacturers and exports have plunged… 

Isn’t it ironic that the demand for masks keeps rising even after the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that you should only wear a mask if you yourself are infected with the virus or if you are taking care of someone who may be infected…?

Isn’t it ironic that Dr Sara Cody, a health official in California, warns the public to not touch their faces, mouths or noses to avoid catching Covid-19, and is then unable to avoid her own bad habit of licking her finger to turn a page…☺?

On one of the worst days so far for Coronavirus, 108 people died in China.  That was on 10 February.  But isn’t it ironic that on the very same day 26 283 people across the world died of cancer, 24 641 died of heart disease and that sadly, suicide took more lives by 28 times?  Moreover, mosquitoes kill 2 740 people every day and humans kill 1 300 fellow humans every day…Ironic?

Yes, it is.  IRONIC.  Because life is ironic.  Its ironic that only 22 of our 91 New Year Challenge members read my Blog last week.   It’s even more ironic that probably all of them will scan the Blog this week and send me the needed “Life is ironic”-line to earn their extra session.

But what does irony mean?  It’s when a situation is strange or funny because things happen in a way that seems the opposite of what you expected.  Sometimes irony raises our eyebrows and other times it brings a laugh or two.

Just think of history and all its strange irony:  “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out”, said Decca Recording Company in 1962 when they declined to sign the Beatles…

“Everyone acquainted with it will recognise it as a conspicuous failure”, said Henry Morton from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1880 on Edison’s light bulb…

We laugh at these situations in hindsight, but the truth is, we sometimes simply struggle to see the big picture.  We can’t envision what’s coming up ahead.  Maybe it’s because our egos are too big, or maybe it’s because we simply cling to our ways too stubbornly and that blinds us…

Did you know that the famous William Shakespeare’s children were illiterate?!  Yes, apparently Susanna and Judith had been illiterate their whole lives!  Wouldn’t you think that a man who’s famous for his written words would have first passed on his skill at home and equip his own wife and children with the tools he possessed?

And did you know that Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, whose political actions led to more than 40 million murders combined, were both nominated for a Nobel peace Prize?!  What’s up with that?

Did you know that William Eno, the father of traffic safety, invented the stop sign, one-way street and traffic circle, but NEVER learned to drive?!  And Bill Hillman, a bullfighting enthusiast, wrote a book called “How to survive the bulls of Pamplona”.  Three weeks after the book was released, he was gored to death by a bull…So ironic.

When I think of irony in our very own town, I can’t help but think about the colossal, extravagant municipal building right next to the sight for sore eyes-squatter camp.  I also think about those “women of the night” conducting their business right in front of the church in Ermelo East…So ironic.   

When it comes to fitness and health, irony is ever-present.  Some days we drag ourselves to the gym feeling exhausted, and then drag ourselves from the gym feeling even more exhausted…(Luckily it`s all for a good cause☺)  Same goes for our sugar cravings – when we do give in to them we beat ourselves up afterwards (I shouldn’t have had those cookies), and when we skip a workout we tend to feel bad afterwards and beat ourselves up even more…

The irony is – when you really want all those foods and you DON`T have them, you really feel good about yourself afterwards, and when you DON`T want to exercise and YOU DO, you feel even better…

Irony…When we were kids, we couldn’t wait to reach adulthood where all things seemed awesome, like not having to wait for pocket money or going to bed early.  And then, when we finally reached that desired age, we saw that it’s not always so awesome and that there are much more responsibilities than we thought.  We are confronted with ironic situations daily – we earn our money but don`t have time to spend it.  We keep telling ourselves we are too young to do what we want to do in life.  And ten years later we say we have become too old…

As children we thought everything was possible, that is until the world taught us all that is not possible. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said:  The reason why most people don’t succeed in life is because they get most of their advice from people who never succeeded either.”  Ironic.  Sigh.

Sometimes life has an ironic way to show us that the moment we stop wanting something, we get it.  Irony doesn`t always makes sense.  It sure does take sadness to know happiness, noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence.  Appreciate the way in which irony shapes our lives – people who don’t need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who don`t need people…As actor Jordan Rylee Harrison also said: “Isn’t it ironic that when you accept sadness as an inevitability of the human condition you feel happier?”

(We are in our last week of New Year Challenge 2020 – these extras I have referred to are extra sessions our Challenge members have earned throughout the six weeks by sharing social media posts and keeping their eyes open.  This week I simply wanted to make sure that they actually read my Blog – so, if you’ve read this far please don’t Whatsapp the words “Life is ironic” – you’ll get zero, zilch, nothing…Please send the words “I’ve read the whole Blog☺” and you’ll get your extra session )

…There is irony in almost everything we do or experience.  The cruellest irony?  According to novelist Douglas Coupland it’s this: “the time you feel most lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself…”  “The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive”, said Robert A Heinlein. 

Maybe we shouldn’t think too much about life’s irony, and just accept it, marvel in it, roll our eyes and sigh with a smile.

Yours in fitness

Mirna

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