Life’s Little Wake-Up Calls
By
Dr. Lorraine Cassista

     Do you ever hit the snooze button when the alarm goes off in the morning? How good it feels to sleep for just another 10 minutes! Sometimes we don’t get that extra snooze. Reality hits us in the face with a wake-up call we just can’t and should not ignore. I am referring to the lessons life teaches us everyday about ourselves and how we live our lives and the choices we make about maintaining our health, our emotional stability, our relationship with ourselves and others, our work ethics, our contribution to society, etc. I can’t cover them all here, but I will attempt to make a point about how our choices affect all aspects of our lives.

     For instance, the choices we make about our physical health, the way we take care of our body, has a pervasive (to spread throughout) impact on all areas of our lives. Just ask someone who has suffered an incapacitating injury or illness, even a temporary one. The depths of the impact can extend into work, our relationships, emotions, everyday activities, etc.

     My husband and I have tried over the years to follow a healthy lifestyle. I was the brunt of jokes from family members years ago when learning about nutrition in Chiropractic College and wanting to share my newfound knowledge of food and so-called food of the American diet. Unfortunately, my “sermons” fell on deaf ears back then, but made good fodder for being teased and labeled as “all natural health nut”. Well my words don’t seem so weird anymore. Nutrition is just but one small part of the big picture.

     I have learned over the years that in order to be effective in all areas of your life you need to take care of the body you have been given. I learned it when my mother got ill and was in and out of the hospital for 2-3 years while my youngest was just an infant. While trying to take care of my family and my mother, I began to neglect myself by making too many exceptions to my diet, not keeping my schedule of regular exercise that had been an important part of my routine, not keeping an outlet for stress, etc. As a result, I gained unwanted pounds, lost tone and flexibility and exposed myself to an unnecessary amount of negative stress.

     Recently my husband suffered an accident in which he tore his Achilles tendon, the tendon that connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. Luckily for him, he is the kind of person who stays active and takes care of his body. His recovery is progressing quite well. What would happen if he had not maintained his physical activity over the years? Through my personal experiences, it has become extremely clear to me how important it is not to give in to the temptation of not working out when I don’t feel like it. Intention means nothing without action.

     What choices do you make everyday about how you treat your body? Do you follow a healthy diet or do too many exceptions creep in because you just don’t have the time or inclination to eat right? Do you exercise to the point of elevating your heart rate within your target zone at least three times a week? Do you lift weights to build and maintain good muscles and bones? Do you stretch to increase and maintain flexibility? Do you relieve stress through relaxing hobbies, mediation, etc.? Do you smoke, drink or eat too much, sleep too little, let worry or anger get the best of you far too often?

     You may want to start making some serious evaluations about your lifestyle. The best way to start is to sit down and write a list of specific things you can and will do on a daily or weekly basis to get and stay physically fit. Start small and be specific. You need to keep your goals within achievable limits. When writing down how you can change your diet, be specific as to what you will add (i.e. 3 vegetables, 2 fruits, one salad) and what you will take away (2 cups of coffee instead of 5, two or three desserts a week instead of one every day). Do the same for exercise and weight training. Specify what activity, for how long and what days of the week. The more specific and reasonable you can be, the more likely you are to succeed.

     I’ve never really liked the alarm clock and have always considered the snooze button my friend, but I also know how important it is to be prepared for that unexpected call.