Oprah Needs Balance Just Like the Rest of Us
January 6, 2009 by Cherie Burbach
Filed under Parenting
I caught this recent article about Oprah Winfrey and how she has gained some weight in the last few years, and one of the things that struck me was that she said she desired balance in her life. More than that, she was “hungry” for a more balanced life.
Oprah even went so far as to say that the lack of balance has helped her gain the weight. She worked too much, and had little time to relax and unwind. I wondered how many of us have felt the same way at times. I certainly have.
In fact, I’m going through one of those times right now. Too busy for life. And too often, my daily workouts get sacrificed in order to “get more done.” The result is that I begin to feel worse because I’m not taking the time to exercise. And even though I DO work more it leaves a hollow feeling when I don’t feel as healthy as I should be.
Oprah has been very honest about her struggles with weight, and I think her honesty helps us look at our own lives.
Cherie, this is a great topic. I think it’s especially difficult for anyone in entertainment to have balance in their lives, because of the enormous pressure to succeed, and the nature of the business itself. The competition is brutal. I write novels and I’ve been lucky enough to have made a successful living at it, but the competition is brutal. I never forget for a single moment that it’s “all about the numbers,” and that even after 40 books, I’m only “as good as my last book.” Writers are under a great deal of pressure to write more books in a shorter time frame, to write books with more commercial appeal, to be more prolific and to hit the best-seller list over and over. Even famous writers, novelists who are household names, are under the gun. Several of my friends used to write a book a year, and now they are being strongly encouraged to write two or even three books a year. So, the pressure’s on! Either you’re in the game or you’re not. As Hilary Clinton once said, “if you don’t want to run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.” I think with Oprah, it’s a time issue. There are only so many hours in the day and she admits that she is a perfectionist, driven to succeed. Plus she’s a role model to millions of women, and that adds another layer of stress. I wish there was a simple answer to this problem, but I don’t think there is…mary kennedy
Mary: You’ve made an excellent point, as usual!
I’m glad you brought up the writer’s standpoint, because I think a lot of people feel that being a writer is a “dream job”, when in fact you still need to continually be your best in order to succeed.
Cherie, you are right! I get lots of e-mails from people asking me how they can achieve “the writer’s life.” They tell me they envy me and that they “want my life.” Hmm. I know they think writing novels for a living is terribly glamorous, but the truth is, I spend much of my time dressed in a ratty bathrobe (like Tony Soprano ), hunched over the computer, struggling to make killer deadlines. I would say the best part of my job is the wonderful people I’ve met at writer’s conferences all over the country, and of course, my readers who I’ve “met” through thousands of e-mails. It’s always rewarding when they say I’ve touched their lives in some way. But the fact remains that most of “the writer’s life” actually consists of very hard work, day after day, churning out book after book. Still, I suppose everything is relative. Jan Leno once said that when he hears about people in entertainment being hospitalized for “exhaustion,” he has to laugh. He says, “C’mon guys. Gimme a break. What if you were working in a coal mine? Now, that would be exhausting!” That put in perspective for me…and I resolved not to whine quite so much. mary