HEALTH
We take it for granted… until it goes wrong.
We abuse it… we neglect it… we envy or mock those that take charge and respect theirs.
We look for a quick fix instead of realising prevention is always better than cure.
Do those few statements ring true with anyone out there?
The health of others also smacks a huge punch too.
Elderly parents…kids…partners and friends. The frustration and heartache of witnessing the ones we love self-sabotage… or just not give a toss. The feelings of uselessness as you can’t take their pain away…mend them…help them.
But...let us stop there before the tissues come out or you just stop reading due to sheer depressive content!
Let’s flip the coin and look at it in the positive not the negative.
How do we feel when we maintain or even work to a decent level of health …and go on to achieve what we never would have thought possible.
For me that was the Great North Run which I completed fifteen years ago…that was an accomplishment way past any expectation!
I have always protested that if I had been put on this earth to run…God would never have made my legs so short and my breasts so big!
I’ve cycled 65 miles through central London on ‘Ride the Night.’ Actually, me and my dear friend Claire, whom I always do these ridiculous things with did bloody 72 miles as we didn’t read the road signs and almost went under a bus on Putney Bridge!
I used to be able to swim 5 miles and play tennis for 6 hours none stop….
Now, I would be happy to make it from the top to the bottom of the stairs without walking sideways in pin steps like a hermit crab!
You see HEALTH buggered it all up five years ago when I accidentally fell over our giant German Shepherd and tumbled down an embankment.
Instead of doing what most normal people do and pop off to A&E when I felt acute pain in my foot…I did the ‘big shop’ at Aldi instead!
Why?… I hear you cry…
I had not learnt the valuable lesson of how important health is…even after falling off a galloping horse…passing through its front legs and hitting a tree stump. I, in my infinite wisdom, thought it was a much better idea to go to a Christmas work do with a dislocated shoulder and mild concussion. Five operations down the line I did realise that an abundance of Prosecco and sleeping in a cast iron bath that night had not been the best course of medical attention!
So heed my words all you fit people…you ignorant people…you people that think you know best and are bona fide medical experts on things you know nothing about…you people who think nothing can touch you…or you that say it will never happen to me…you that say the fags and the booze never hurt Grandad Bill who lived to the ripe old age of 95 …just stop.
Stop and take stock of how lucky you are to have what you have…
Know that only you have the power to change.
Show gratitude and cherish your health for without it, we are buggered and remember you are worth it. Don’t make the same mistake I did…turns out the tumble cost me 5 months on crutches having had my Achilles tendon replaced. Trust me ‘wheelchair Wednesdays’ make you realise that we should never take what we have for granted…make us grateful for those around us that love support and put up with our painful moaning.
But most important of all, do not allow the knockbacks to make us mourn what we can no longer achieve…but celebrate the smaller new triumphs we now collect.
Neena of old who could knock out 5 miles in a pool may well have frowned upon the mere twelve lengths of a pool I knocked out yesterday.
Neena of today says ‘bloody well-done girl… keep it up and make sure you never ever take for granted your HEALTH…
HERE ENDITH THE SERMON X
I want to finish today by getting you to think about some questions.
Ask yourself …do I look after my health to the best of my capabilities?
Ask yourself do I think I‘m worth it?
Ask yourself …do I actually believe I am immortal…..?