Dear Tired Humans, You’re Actually Doing Okay!

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Maybe you didn’t get your 10,000 steps today. Maybe you forgot to drink the water. Maybe dinner will be toast. Before you beat yourself up about it, can we talk about everything you DID manage to do?

South Africa (06 October 2026) – Goeie genade! I am not sure how you do it? Find the time. I saw a post on TikTok the other day that made me really cross. I had to restrain myself from commenting.

Some B-Grade South African fitfluencer was fat-shaming people. Like, that’s his shtick. Rage-baiting for likes. I hate rage-baiting. It’s everywhere. Say something controversial to rile people up, because the more comments you get, the more your post shows up for other people. And engagement apparently equals fame. But fame is not real friends. Social media likes do not equate to anything really.

I digress. Jammer.

This oke was saying (and I am going to be much more polite here) that people who feel overweight, or who are not happy with themselves, need to “just get to the gym” and “eat right”.

My bru, you’re a personal trainer. Your “desk job” is the gym. You are there ALL day.

The average person has other things going on. Like lots of things. And those things don’t happen anywhere in a gym.

They wake up already tired, check their phones, answer a WhatsApp, look at emails (and sigh), shower, get dressed, make coffee, wake the kids, feed the kids, feed the dogs, pack lunches, find the missing school shoe, sign the thing that should have been signed last night, get everyone into the car, sit in traffic, dodge taxis, get to work, answer emails, sit in meetings, meet deadlines, deal with clients, deal with colleagues, deal with more emails, answer more WhatsApps, remember they need to pay the electricity, book the dentist, buy dog food, phone their mom, organise a birthday present, pay school fees, worry about the bond, wonder what the hell everyone is going to eat for dinner, finish work, sit in traffic AGAIN, fetch the kids, stop at Woolies, buy more bags (why do we ALWAYS forget the bags), get home, unpack groceries, make dinner, help with homework, wash dishes, put on a load of washing, bath children, feed animals, tidy the house, remember the leaking tap still hasn’t been fixed, worry about money, worry about their parents getting older, worry about their children, worry about work, worry about whether they’re doing enough, try spend some meaningful time with the person they love…

And somewhere in between ALL OF THAT we’re apparently supposed to drink 3 litres of water, get 8 hours of sleep, meditate, journal, meal prep, hit 10,000 steps, eat 150 grams of protein, avoid carbs, avoid sugar, stretch, practise gratitude, take supplements and, according to some oke whose literal job is to stand in a gym all day, “just get to the gym”.

My fok, Marelize.

So ja. Maybe you don’t get to the gym today. Maybe you don’t get your 10,000 steps. Maybe dinner will be toast. Maybe the washing is still in the machine from yesterday and you’re going to have to wash it again because now it smells weird. Maybe all you drink today is 3 coffees and approximately 14ml of water.

That’s okay. You’re doing okay. You’re actually doing better than you think.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to do ALL the things, ALL the time, and then we open our phones and some oke is shouting at us because apparently we’re still not doing enough.

Voetsek.

If you tick one thing off your list today, well done. If you make the appointment you’ve been putting off, replied to an email, go for a walk (even if it’s just to your car), pack the lunch, phone your mom, get the kids where they needed to be (nearly on time), make your bed or just managed to get yourself through a kak day… well done.

You don’t need to have everything figured out before the sleep has even been rubbed from your eyes. And you don’t need to be smashing life every single day.

You ARE doing okay. And tomorrow you can try again. Maybe, maybe you even get a gap to go to the gym. Or don’t. I’m not your personal trainer.

Just please remember your Woolies bags.

Okay. Love you. Bye.