Life brings many challenges and uncertain circumstances that are usually inescapable and difficult to get out of individually. A person can only withstand the pressure and challenges of life to a certain extent without emotional and moral support. Family and social relationships play a primary role in shaping a person’s values while providing a support system for endeavoring through life’s many challenges and adversities. Although strong-willed people possess the tenacity and determination to overcome challenges, most individuals lack the steadfastness necessary to overcome hardship. They rely on strong social associations with family and friends to give a nudge or motivate them to strive through turbulent times. However, overreliance on particular relationships or people can also create dilemmas when those individuals are unavailable or cannot offer support.
Social associations, families, and friends are vital components of a healthy and fulfilling life, but most people are unaware of the essence of dependable relationships. Many relationships are feeble and in vain because they are not meaningful and do not offer an individual any value addition or empowerment. Kyle Washington, a corporate executive turned book author, calls empty calories any relationships that hinder people’s growth or empowerment despite offering a sense of happiness. He wrote a novel on the subject to illustrate how unproductive and barren relationships adversely affect people. The novel also highlights the significance of a spouse and parent and the family’s challenges after losing a loved one.
The book “empty calories” depicts a wife and a mother with strong personality who dies after controlling her family’s life and decisions. Washington highlights how a narcissistic and controlling lady controls and influences family members despite being a seemingly perfect person as a wife and mother. Ellie, the mother and spouse, is a successful and career-oriented individual who strictly controls her family. Although the family seemed like a strong unit to people, it was under the mother’s strict control and fell apart after Ellie’s death. The family’s downfall begins immediately after her death as the father and five children face numerous adversities and challenges.
Kyle Washington hails from Houston, Texas and is the youngest of five siblings in the family. He worked as an executive in a Fortune 500 company while raising his children as a single father. He is fond of traveling and interacting with new people to better understand people’s perceptions, behaviors, values, and beliefs. People have different stories to share due to their diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, and experiences. Traveling and meeting new people enabled Washington to enhance his writing arsenal for new books and novels. Washington’s interactions with diverse people and their experiences inspired the Empty Calories novel.
The book portrays that relationships do not matter if they are empty or meaning less and take control of people’s lives. The empty calories novel highlights how a person exploits and controls family members to an extent where they cannot work or function independently. The family crumbles under pressure as soon as the mother dies. They cannot fathom the challenges of living independently without others’ decisions and face substantial adversity due to their dependence on instructions. Washington implies that everyone has fascinating or fulfilling relationships that offer no value or purpose. He terms the relationships as empty calories because they are similar to food without any actual nutritional value for a person.
Washington delved into writing after working as an executive in a Fortune 500 company due to his interest in authoring books on intriguing topics. He was always fascinated by how people’s relationships affected their lives and behavior because he interacted with many people who stayed in their toxic relationships despite being exploited and miserable. His interactions inspired him to write the novel and show people how relationships can adversely affect their lives. Washington refers to such relationships with no actual meaning as empty calories because they do not offer any value or purpose to a person’s life. Kyle Washington and his novel the Empty Calories help people differentiate between empty and meaningful relationships.
