I know there are some who think I am a little over the top about wellness. I’m okay with that. I’m okay with being told I should just live a little, or that we only live once so we should enjoy it. Ironically, I am enjoying life. In fact, I love life! The assumption is that I am not enjoying life and that I would like to make sure nobody else enjoys it either! Now, that’s funny.
But seriously, why am I motivated and driven to the point wellness is my passion? I honestly have to say it’s disease. Yep. Plain and simple. I’m not trying to get rich. I’m not trying to have a beach body. I’m not trying to be younger. I’m really just trying to ward off disease.
You see, when I was in 7th grade, about 12 years old, and my dad was in his mid 30’s, he had his first heart attack and subsequently, his first bypass surgery. At the age of 20, I was told I had high cholesterol and because of my dad’s heart disease, I was at risk for heart disease as well. Not fun to be told that at the ripe old age of 20! Fast forward quite a few years. My mom, at 65, was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. Yeah, chew on that awhile. Type I is commonly known as juvenile onset diabetes and yet here was my mom, at the age of retirement, having to learn how to manage this dreadful disease. Shortly after that, she started having problems with her memory and was most recently diagnosed with dementia at the age of 75. My grandmother (my mom’s mother) also had dementia.
Scary stuff. And as much as I don’t want heart disease, nor do I want Type I diabetes, the one that breaks my heart the most and has been hardest for me to watch take my mom from me is – dementia. It has robbed me of my mom, my rock, my spiritual guide, my solace. She is still alive in body, but her mind is not hers. Her ability to think logically and problem solve is to the point she can’t live independently. This amazing lady who holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and read veraciously when she was younger is having to rely on others to problem solve for her and manage her diabetes because those thinking processes are simply not there. Her body is. She can run circles around most people in the assisted living facility where she resides. But it’s of little use now that her mind is not functioning normally.
As I’ve watched her decline, I’ve poured myself into reading and research to see what can be done. Genetics are a big factor. Not much control over that. But there is something else. Diet and exercise. Funny, those are the same 2 things that help ward off heart disease, the disease that originally started me down the wellness path, and a plethora of other diseases as well, including mental illnesses. I don’t have any control over my genes. I can’t stop what is happening to my mom. But I can control my diet and exercise.
So, before assuming somebody else’s motives, walk in their shoes for a bit. The view is much different. Namaste