There’s an ad on television where two middle-aged guys are having lunch together, and one guy says how pleased he is now that his retirement funds are being well managed. He then asks the other guy how his retirement plan is working out. The other guy says he’s crossing his fingers and hoping for the best.
I’m no financial expert but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that other guy may be hoping for the best, but the worst is likely where he’s headed.
If that’s how you’re approaching anything in life, I’m asking you to stop and reconsider — especially if you’re crossing your fingers and hoping for the best when it comes to your physical and MonuMENTAL Health.
We’ve all known people who did everything right — they ate healthy food, never smoked, never drank alcohol, exercised — and yet they dropped dead from a heart attack at the age of 40. While someone else smoked and drank, never exercised, and frequented their favorite fast-food place on a regular basis and lived to the ripe old age of 99.
Some will say it’s a matter of biology, genetics, or just plain old good or bad luck, and to some degree they might be right. But both are extreme examples and most of us fall somewhere between the two.
If you’re in the cross your fingers and hope for the best camp, I think it’s a bad plan — actually it’s not a plan at all. You’re playing a game of Russian Roulette not only with your finances, but your health as well. So, my question to you is…
Why?
While teaching as an adjunct faculty instructor many years ago, I found this book: The Dash: Making a Difference with Your Life, by Linda Ellis and Mac Anderson. Linda is a poet and in 1996 she wrote The Dash — a poem she said she never realized would change her life in such profound ways.
In 2003 Mac Anderson, an American CEO and author, learned about her poem in a thank you letter he received after a speaking engagement. He said, “I can count on one hand how many times I’ve read something that stopped me in my tracks — words that bypassed the brain and went straight to the heart.”
Have you ever read anything that stopped you in your tracks?
Linda’s poem tells the story of a man at a funeral service reflecting on a life well lived — noting that between the date of birth and the date of death sits a small dash, and it is that dash — how we live and love, what we give and leave behind — that matters most.
Mac was so moved by the poem he collaborated with Linda, creating this amazing book. I highly recommend you read it. It’s more than inspiring — it helps us understand the gift that is our lives, and the importance of thoughtfully considering how we spend our dash.
I made The Dash: Making a Difference with Your Life required reading in my Lifespan Development courses. This short 90-page book was amazing fodder for many thoughtful conversations in my classroom.
Joseph Epstein, an American author, once said…
“We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents, or the country of our birth. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live.”
Let’s not live like the other guy in the TV commercial. Let’s stop thinking that winging it is going to get us the life, prosperity, joy, or even the retirement we want for ourselves.
I want to invite you to reconsider, rethink, reverse — whatever you must — to stop yourself from going down this path of indifference and indecision.
I have friends and family members who lived their lives this way. Living life adrift, going with the flow, not paying attention, not taking care of themselves — and now they are very ill, or sadly, no longer with us.
They’ve experienced serious health conditions like stroke, alcoholism, cancer, and major depression. They had to endure painful treatments, surgeries, grueling rehabilitation, and what I call the shitstorm of medication side-effects — and even that didn’t get their attention.
If you asked any one of them if they thought there was something they could have done to avoid these serious health conditions, you would likely get the deer in the headlights look.
Maybe somewhere deep inside they know they sat on the sidelines instead of getting in the game — or to continue the sports analogy, they weren’t being their own best cheerleader or keeping their eye on the ball. But it isn’t a conversation any of them would be willing to engage in.
I don’t want people to wait until it’s too late anymore.
My mother smoked cigarettes for 53 years and drank too much alcohol for most of her adult life. She quit both, but it was too late. A few years after giving it all up she was diagnosed with throat cancer. She fought the good fight for six years but ended up experiencing her greatest fear — a laryngectomy.
She often spoke of a childhood neighbor who had a laryngectomy, and she never wanted that to happen to her. Yet she lived her final years breathing through her neck and speaking with an electrolarynx.
I remember a conversation we had at the height of her drinking and smoking — she would have a cigarette in her hand while one burned in the ashtray — and she commented that she wasn’t hurting anyone. In that moment she couldn’t see the impact on her family, but more importantly she wasn’t able to see the damage she had done to her own body, her own life.
My mom could have lived a different life, taken a different path, paid attention, actively participated in her healthcare, and made better choices. But she realized that too late.
So, stop crossing your fingers and hoping for the best!
I recently turned 70 years old, and I promised myself a few years ago that I was going to spend my final years being my healthiest and happiest self. I stopped thinking about being “old” and started thinking about living my older years better. I won’t bore you with all the details of my daily health routines, but I do want to share someone’s work with you that I value.
I’ve been working with Geetika, whose Substack publication is Ayurveda in Modern Life. When I read her description of what she offers, I knew I’d found what I was looking for:
“A newsletter and place to learn a different way of thinking about your health, your food, and your daily life — without being told that everything you’ve been doing is wrong. Without the overwhelm. Without the overhaul.”
In Geetika’s words, Ayurveda is…
“A 5,000-year-old system of health that has been saying the same sensible and practical things for longer than most wellness trends have existed. It is not here to judge where you are. It is not here to tell you it’s too late. It is here to offer you a language for what you’re already feeling, and a few simple tools for feeling better.”
I’m in good health, thank God, but I want to eliminate a couple of prescriptions whose side-effects I’m not crazy about. Most importantly, I want to make the most of my dash.
If you’re like me and you want the healthiest and happiest life for yourself — if you’re done crossing your fingers and hoping for the best when it comes to your physical and MonuMENTAL Health — then click on Ayurveda in Modern Life and get started. You’ll be glad you did. I am!
Thank You for being a part of Planting Seeds for Health & Happiness
I’d love to hear your thoughts, please join the discussion to stop crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. Just click on the leave a comment button. Let’s keep this conversation going…
If you’d rather not share your thoughts online but would like to engage in the conversation with me, you can do so by emailing me. Just click on the email button below. I will respond to your email.
When your family gathers for dinner tonight, remember the dinner table is a No Phone Zone! Start a conversation about HOW to live your healthiest and happiest life. Everyone eats, participates, and listens to each other’s stories.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.