500 Days of Struggle

"What the fuck is this?!"

The man was furious. He had just bought a new pair of shoes, but they don't fit. He had wanted to have them for the next day, but it wasn't going to work. The shoes were way too small.

"I've worn my size before and these are just bigger than I thought." He said.

"It happens sir." Said the clerk, "it's been a while since you've bought shoes so you can ask your wife to see if they still fit."

The man nodded and walked out of the shoe store. He had no intention of asking his wife, he knew there was nothing wrong with him, it was those damn shoes. The truth was that the shoes were too small for him because he had lost some weight during his diet. But he didn't want to lose any more weight. He couldn't bare himself looking like a loser in front of other guys, men always have to be big and broad, perfect and symmetrical. Not this guy, who wants a strong body but not at the expense of looking like a girl.

He immediately went to another shoe store and bought the same shoe again in a bigger size. Now he had 2 pairs of shoes that didn't fit him right, in fact they made his feet hurt even more now. And he had wasted money on both pairs!

A few years later the man decided that enough was enough and he started his own diet program called #nooneisperfect. The program was simple: eat less than you need and exercise more than you used to. It looked like it worked pretty well since the man lost around 100 pounds in 1 year. But that wasn't good enough for him either; now he wanted to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger after his first Mr Olympia win in 1965, although his biceps would never be as big as Arnold's, who has 12 inches arms compared to his 10 inches arms.

He continued to do #nooneisperfect and lost another 50 pounds, making him 190 pounds lighter than when he started; although by now he looked like a skeleton (he also had problems with bone density). He decided that instead of doing #nooneisperfect anymore he would do #nomasperfect ever again! By now people would expect him to look like Arnold at 20 years old or something ridiculous like that... Al Pacino after Scarface? That's what people expected!

One day he went to buy another pair of shoes but unfortunately all sizes were out of stock; so he asked the clerk how many new pairs would arrive tomorrow because he had an event where he needed them desperately; apparently his company arranged a breakfast as a team-building activity and there were lots of important business leaders attending from all over the world; not only key people from different companies but also politicians... They would recognize him if his shoes weren't nice!

"Sorry sir we don't know how soon will new ones arrive." Said the clerk, "but we can order them for you until Monday."

The man frowned "Monday!? No!! I need them tomorrow!"

"I'm really sorry sir but we can't help you this time." Said the clerk helping an elderly woman trying to find her way through her glasses.

The man left without saying anything else; they must have been conspiring with each other against him! Those shops were owned by one person anyway so maybe they wanted some extra cash... Fuck them! He would go home and get his old ones then! It wasn't like they could tell anyone their true stories behind their strange behaviour...