A Truth About Wellness “Op Ed”
Have you ever wondered why the suspense movies always have the person (with the dramatic music playing of course) entering into their own home, at night, walk half way across the room before turning on a light? And before they do, naturally the bad guy grabs them before they ever had a chance. Meanwhile, I don’t know about you, but I’m sitting there speaking out loud to an inanimate object, the T.V., “turn on the light dummy!” And almost thinking to myself “well, what did you expect, you didn’t turn on the light!” Another words “you asked for it!” The reason the producers create it this way is to increase the fear in us of course. And it works.
Now in real life you probably wouldn’t do this, or if you do it’s because you most likely live in the safest place ever. And hopefully, those condescending thoughts that at least I have would be more empathetic if it really did happen to someone I knew in real life.
But in some ways, we do play out this scenario all the time, in real life, just in a different way. In a wholistic health way. Have you ever experienced someone trying to impose their fear onto you? For example, most of you probably know that I backpack, in the wilderness, and at times, by myself – well, me and Jesus. I can’t tell you the number of times another person has tried to impose their fears onto me by telling me, a grown, middle-aged, fairly experienced hiker, that I can’t hike by myself. Perhaps, in a small part, it’s because they really care about my safety (although this can come from some people I haven’t seen or spoken to in years, and have only an occasional interaction through social media at best with), but the greater reason they are telling me this is because they are afraid themselves. Like the suspense movie (and maybe they have watched too many of these), they are imposing their perceived scenario of my adventure onto themselves, and then try and cast it back to me. Now, if I was not so convicted of Who my Protector really is, and that I was walking in wisdom and courage, and not fear, I could find myself falling into their fearful trap.
What does this have to do with wholistic health you might ask? It has everything to do with it. If you are prone to knee jerk reactions, instead of having a mental, as well as a financial plan should a serious physical diagnosis come your way, you will be operating out of fear.
Have you ever heard it said that you should never make important decisions when you are in a place of fear or discouragement; a place of anger or panic? The suggestion from those wise counsels is to wait – 30, 60, 90 days – or even longer depending on the scenario. When I was blessed with an inheritance from my parents, my financial advisor strongly advised that I not make any major decisions in the spur of the moment. Like quitting my job, spending lavishly etc. This was wise advice. On a smaller scale, as I was reading a fellow hiker’s memoir of her Appalachian Trail journey, there was a time she was fatigued and wanted to quit. A wise counsel told her to not make hasty decisions when you are fatigued and feeling hopeless. Again, wise advice.
How much more important is our health and healthcare decisions? Here is one more example that I shared in my book “Are You Being Deceived About True Wellness?” Several years back I went to a dermatologist for a mole on my side – the only problem it caused me was it would get caught on clothing at times. They removed it and did a biopsy as is standard practice for them, and called me later that evening to tell me it was a “squamous cell carcinoma” and asked when I could come in for “surgery” to have the rest of it removed – they already had their appointment calendar open, knife in hand! The only foresight I had in the moment was to not be coerced into any unnecessary surgery before I had time to think this whole scenario through and visit all of my options – including researching the different types of skin cancers – did you know there are different types – some more life-threatening than others? Not just the one that was being imposed on me through the tactic of fear. (Remember how the movie producers operate?). I hit the pause button, collected my senses before I ventured too far down the path of panic, reached out to some colleagues and stayed the course I had already pre-determined years before that I would go should any kind of news like this come my way – the wholistic, natural course.
Fear is a strong manipulator.We need to be able to recognize this, and not make a knee jerk reaction based on it. Sadly, I saw this scenario play out in the life of one of my dear friends. She lived a healthy lifestyle and always pursued natural approaches to healing. She was well versed in the wholistic approach. One day she felt a pain in her sternum area after trying to shut a stubborn shed door. She thought she just strained something. Long story short, after several doctor visits and some xrays and other radiological testing it was determined that she had stage 4 cancer. And off to the chemotherapy and radiation appointments she went, for months – to no avail.
To book Dr. Jackie for speaking engagements go to:
https://jackiemckool.com/schedule-jackie/
Now, please understand, I am not making judgement as to my friend’s decision for the direction she chose to go. But I have to wonder if she had given thought ahead of time as to how she would proceed should she ever encounter a diagnosis like this would she have made different choices and decisions? Or, did she base her decision from a place of fear? The only reason I question this is because the decisions she had always pursued to take care of her health, didn’t line up with the approach she took to restore it back to good health.
Just as we should have an emergency contact provided to someone when we embark on anything that entails risk – surgery, a trip, a risky adventure – or any number of other places we leave an emergency contact, so should we have an emergency disease plan.
What Needs to be Included in Your Emergency Wholistic Health Plan?
- Just as we should have a will (sadly, most people avoid writing one of these up too) in place should or when we die, including what to do with our valuable possessions, including our pets! So should we have a determined plan in place if we were to ever face a diagnosis like my friend did.
- Include which model would you want to pursue – a disease management model, or a wholistic healthcare model – one that works towards restoring your body back to good health using natural approaches.
- Your plan also needs to include to whom you would seek professional advice and care from. Start researching this now for some of the more common, serious, life-threatening diseases like cancer. Who would you reach out to? Speak with their office, inquire about their processes and fees, even schedule a consult interview to see if they are in alignment with your beliefs and desires – just in case you should ever need their services.
- Another important factor is your financial plan to pay for the services you may need. Do your research ahead of time to see what the various places who deal with the worst case scenarios i.e. Stage IV cancer for example, charge. Have at a minimum this amount of money set aside, assuming insurance does not cover wholistic approaches, which is a fair assumption. This is your “emergency bucket” – it very easily could cost upwards of $100,000. What would you do if you were faced with this kind of expense? Have a plan ahead of time.
In Summary
Be convicted and grounded in your beliefs, have a game plan, do your homework, create a savings plan and start saving now, and stick with it should any unexpected emergencies arise. And above all, don’t let fear dictate anything you do, especially as it pertains to your health and your life.
Click “Here” to get your free copy of “LEARN ABOUT THE 7 WELLNESS MYTHS KEEPING US FROM ACHIEVING TRUE HEALTH”
See more of these blogs, in case you missed them, for greater insight to the Truth About Wellness:
“Fasting, What Does God Say About It?”
“Food Addicts, Are You One of Them?”
“Rest, It’s More Than You Think”