HEALTH ADDS VALUE TO LIFE
Not all have a choice when it comes to health which makes it all the more important to look after ourselves
THERE’S nothing like a significant birthday to start you thinking about the meaning of life.
This year my husband and I both turn 40 and our eldest son will enter double digits. Where those first 10 years of his life have gone is anyone’s guess. It feels like yesterday that we drove our tiny newborn boy home from the hospital.
These life milestones have been the catalyst for some sharp focus on our lives, our health and our priorities.
In our late teens we were full of bravado and confidence – anything was possible in life. Give it a good hard go and chances are it would happen for you.
In our 20s, with the egochecking knock-backs and disappointments that come with adult life, our youthful confidence dropped down a notch.
Well, OK, maybe not EVERYTHING is achievable, but life is still full of opportunities.
With the arrival of children, our third decade of life has been focused on ensuring our financial stability for the years ahead.
Suddenly life became a treadmill of mortgage repayments, school projects, sporting commitments, washing, ironing, meal prep and the other boring minutiae of life in the burbs.
Throw in a global financial crisis and two floods and it’s fair to say the past five years have been a grind.
Go to work, pay the bills, feed the family, help with homework, enjoy weekend. Repeat.
But while we were so focused on keeping all of our balls in the air, meeting our financial and family commitments, something else was happening.
Our bodies were ageing and our health was fading away.
The kilos were piling on, the joints were struggling under this new weight and our fitness was in free fall.
The first 15 minutes of most days were spent trying to get our bodies upright, while conducting an audit of which parts ached, which were stiff and which seemed to be in good nick.
There’s nothing like the honesty of kids to shock you into action.
“Mummy why is your bum so big,” my boy asked innocently?
“Daddy, you have a fat stomach,” the other declared.
While we could lecture our sons on the delicate balance
It’s not until you read of women your own age–and younger– succumbing to serious illness that you question you rown priorities.
between being honest and being hurtful, there was no ignoring the facts – we were both overweight and in poor health.
A month ago my husband was diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea and was forced to spend our next holiday budget on a machine to help him breathe at night.
While I joked it was like going to bed with Darth Vader we both knew something had to change.
The time had come to take back control of our health and our happiness.
I realised that in the overcomitted bustle of our lives, we’d taken our own mortality for granted.
It’s not until you read of women your own age – and younger – succumbing to serious illness that you question your own priorities.
Late last week Jessica Ainscough, the woman widely known as the Wellness Warrior, passed away, aged 30, seven years after being diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma.
I have been moved by the awareness raising campaign staged by Samuel Johnson and his sister Connie, who like me is a mum of two boys.
She’s 37 and is dying from breast cancer.
Samuel’s incredible Love Your Sister, around-Australia unicycle ride raised $1.6 million for cancer research.
But closer to home it has been the brave, unwavering battle by journalist Kate Carlyle that has had the biggest impact on my life outlook.
I don’t know Kate personally but have watched with awe and enormous respect as she has shared her cancer journey.
First there was her twoandbattle with breast cancer and then in October last year the news that she had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and must have a bone marrow transplant.
Through her blog and through social media Kate has drawn on her reporting skills to give a real and moving insight into the effect of cancer on her body.
On this gruelling journey Kate has remained positive and inspirational, tagging her posts #luckiestgirlonplanet
When I consider the gargantuan fight Kate has waged against cancer, I feel ashamed and angry that I have taken my own health for granted for so long.