Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, says that the #1 habit of highly effective people are those who are proactive. According to Covey being proactive means that you are taking responsibility of your life and of course that includes your health. But the question is this: why is it so hard for us live a life that’s proactive especially when it comes to our health? It’s a constant battle between getting up early to go to the gym versus sleeping in or eating dark green vegetables versus the pumpkin pie or from a chiropractic patient’s perspective doing their neck & core exercises versus sitting on the couch watching TV. Personally, I think it’s because it takes a lot of work, it takes a ton of discipline and the results are not always immediate so you don’t get that instantaneous feeling of satisfaction. But in the end is it worth all the effort? ABSOLUTELY. So how do we motivate ourselves to be proactive? That’s a good question and not an easy one to answer. But I think a good start is to look at the result of being reactive and understanding that’s not a type of life worth living. Currently we predominantly live in a reactive health care system. Meaning that we wait for disease and symptoms to show up and then take action. But by the time we wait for the symptoms or for the alarms to go off to get help, it can be too late. The problem lies in our definition of health because most believe health is all about how we look and feel. Health is an investment and the earlier you start taking care of it the better your chances are in having a thriving life that’s full of vitality. This is why serious diseases like heart disease or cancer are the top two killers in North America! It’s because their symptoms don’t show up until it’s too late.
Last week I met a man who came into our practice with some serious health issues. His question to me is how did this happen? The answer of course came sprinting into my head, but for him you see, it was not so obvious. I could see the desperation in his eyes seeking help because he didn’t want to live the rest of his life this way. And rightly so, no one deserves to be sick and suffering. Currently, we are in the process of helping him, but I believe much if not all of his health problems were preventable. And as a society if we continue down this path of purely reacting to our health issues then there will be many more people like this man who came into our office wondering why and how they got so sick. Unfortunately, many need a life altering event before we realize how damaging this way of thinking and acting is, but let’s not live that way and start being proactive with your health and your life today. Get up early to exercise, eat that piece of broccoli and do your neck & core exercises. It’s not too late to take the high road.
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Dr. Tyler A. Kong
Last week I met a man who came into our practice with some serious health issues. His question to me is how did this happen? The answer of course came sprinting into my head, but for him you see, it was not so obvious. I could see the desperation in his eyes seeking help because he didn’t want to live the rest of his life this way. And rightly so, no one deserves to be sick and suffering. Currently, we are in the process of helping him, but I believe much if not all of his health problems were preventable. And as a society if we continue down this path of purely reacting to our health issues then there will be many more people like this man who came into our office wondering why and how they got so sick. Unfortunately, many need a life altering event before we realize how damaging this way of thinking and acting is, but let’s not live that way and start being proactive with your health and your life today. Get up early to exercise, eat that piece of broccoli and do your neck & core exercises. It’s not too late to take the high road.
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Dr. Tyler A. Kong