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DrG's Medisense Feature Article
15034-When_Life_Calms_Down
When
Life Calms Down…
By Ann Gerhardt MD
February 2015
Print Version
Aristotle Onassis said, “We must free ourselves of the hope
that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high
winds.” That is a concise expression of how we
should approach a healthy lifestyle.
Too many of my patients feel that sick relatives, problems at work, an
upcoming daughter’s wedding, houseguests or being broke
prevent their exercising or making prudent food choices. They
say, “When things calm down, I’ll start walking
again,” or they will plan better meals.
Malarkey.
Those things are life. And they, and almost every other
excuse you can think of other than your neighborhood flattened by an
act of nature or an illness landing you in the intensive care unit,
don’t necessarily keep you from making healthy
choices.
No life is problem-free. Disruption may subside long enough
for you to pay for a gym membership or write an ambitious shopping
list, but is guaranteed to return sooner or later.
In the meantime, we don’t need a lifestyle overhaul that
requires hours of planning and tons of money. We must make
minute by minute decisions about walking to the bus or cycling instead
of driving, taking stairs instead of elevators, shooting hoops instead
of watching TV… choosing the veggie rice bowl instead of the
double cheeseburger, tea instead of soda, a modest salmon steak instead
of a mound of fettuccine alfredo… shopping from the outside
supermarket aisles instead of the inner ones… contemplating
the universe instead of eating a bag of chips.
To use stressors as excuses to not make the prudent choices
doesn’t relieve the stress. It just sets us up for
more stress down the line, ranging from dissatisfaction with our weight
or shape to losing a job after a stroke… or death
– but that’s only disrupting to the people you
leave behind.
So let stressors be the excuse to redouble your commitment to health,
not the excuse to give up.