Accidental Sick Happens

Why Give a Damn:

There are contagions out there just waiting for a dip at your immune system, and to take hold and shake you like a cat with a mouse at dinnertime. Invest in health so that you can save the world later.

The author of this post, Ann Garvin is an author, speaker and professor of health, stress management, research methods and media literacy.

Accidental sick happens and when it does, you’re going to lose time toward your goal.  Tweet This Quote

I have the flu. As I write this, I am coughing, lying on the couch and considering another dose of cold medicine, maybe some green tea. This is putting a significant pause on my save-the-world agenda. A pause I can do nothing about; a pause that I will have to work doubly hard to come back from.

It’s particularly frustrating because I caught the flu, even though I received the flu shot months ago, I eat, sleep and exercise with the best of them, I wash my hands, try not to put them in my mouth and never hug people who are sweaty and contagious looking. So there are two lessons here for people who are on the long-hard road to saving the world:

1. You’re going to get sick.
   There are contagions out there just waiting for a dip in your immune system to take hold and shake you like a cat with a mouse at dinnertime. You can’t avoid everything with meticulous self-care. Maybe a tiny speck get’s lodged in your ureter and a kidney stone doubles you over or a texting driver hits your bumper and your neck get’s a good jerk. Maybe a tick, from your healthy hike in the woods, nibbles your ankle or you fall on the ice. Accidental sick happens and when it does, you’re going to lose time toward your goal.
2. Don’t pursue sick.
   You can cut your sickness time in half by not pursuing disease. By not engaging in behaviors that encourage illness; the obvious ones being smoking, high saturated fat diets, texting and driving, abusing alcohol. But, the less obvious behaviors of haphazard eating, lack of sleep, and not moving is also pursing illness. If you give yourself heart disease you’re really going to lose some time.

Accidental Illness = lost time
+ Illness related to behavior = more lost time.  Tweet This Quote

It’s very loose math but an equation none the less:

Accidental Illness = lost time + Illness related to behavior = more lost time.

I suggest that we all invest upfront so there is less lost time in the end. Isn’t that what you’re asking investors to do every day? Invest upfront to save the world later. So, I’m saying the same thing. Invest in health so that you can save the world later. I can’t think of a better investment.

Invest in your health so that you can save the world later.  Tweet This Quote