So the other day Ross and I took Dex to see my Dad for a trip out, my Dad works shifts and I’ve not seen him for weeks so it was the last opportunity before we hit Mexico to see him.
My dad is one hell of a talker! We never have a moment silence and there is always something to crack on about… This time it was the upcoming holiday, cameras and checking out his footage from 2014 when he visited Mexico with my step mam and sisters… There’s a depth to most conversations despite his humorous approach to most things, we got talking about goals, about where we sit with finances and what we want to achieve… Apparently it’s music to his ears to hear that I’m not interested in the flash cars and big houses, that actually I just want to live a comfortable life but have money for the experiences of travel, to see the world and have adventures…
When you start talking about living life the conversation soon leads to health and fitness… This usually leads to my dads dodgy ticker, or once dodgy ticker (he’s had it fixed by a genius)… And the family tree… My family tree is riddled with heart problems and cancer on both my Mam and Dads side… and my Dad asked me if this was the reason I’d started to look after myself (he once said I was a clip… This is the kind of relationship we have, brutally honest… So he’s proud that I’ve “sorted myself out” as he puts it…) anyway… I digress… Was this the reason I started to get fit and take my health that bit more seriously… Not one bit…
This is where the fear kicks in…
It’s actually a frightening thought that despite both of my parents having life threatening health issues that should really have highlighted the importance of looking after myself… It wasn’t that at all that got me focused on my health…
So what was it…? Let’s be honest here… It was vanity… I did what I’m guessing most people do… I wanted to get in shape so that I felt good when I looked in the mirror… So I wasn’t podgy round the edges… So I had curves in all the right places…
So why does that fill me with fear?
What if I hadn’t been so bothered about what I looked like… What if I had accepted that this was my lot and I had to live with it, I was happy eating crap and doing nothing… What might have happened either now or in the future? I’m not saying by keeping fit I’m never going to get sick but heck I know for a fact I’ve significantly reduced my chances, and if I do get sick I’m gonna be in a hell of a lot better position to battle whatever is thrown at me…
It fills me with fear because we all know how many ailments can be passed on to our kids (some through genetics which is not our fault, and some through our ignorance to our own health and habits – obesity as an example) and yet many don’t make a decision to actively improve their health…
Are we doomed as a society… with increasing levels of obesity and other illnesses that can be prevented, just because we can’t or won’t get active… Because we won’t make an effort with our nutrition, because it’s easier to live on fast food and watch shit TV? Because despite our drive within our careers to make money, when it comes to looking after ourselves and our families health we’re actually quite lazy?
This may not have been an easy read for some… It may have been a good hard slap… I have to admit I have shaken my head at myself, I’m actually disappointed in me, that my parents ill health wasn’t enough to make me care about my own…
It’s time we stop relying on these genius medics to “fix us” when we’re poorly… It’s time we took control of our health so that we start setting the right example to our kids if we already have them, and more importantly so we don’t pass the issues on to them if we’re planning on having any… This isn’t just about looking good, it’s about feeling good, it’s about living life to the max, it’s about living for as long as we can, well into our years instead of missing out on the grandkids growing up because we aren’t around any more… It’s time to let the experts focus on health issues that we can’t do anything about, those illnesses that need more research, that need more time and focus, rather than those which quite frankly we’ve brought on ourselves…
It’s time to get real… This is our lives we are talking about… Let’s start living them…
S x
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