Death to most of us is really painful. I say condolence and feel sad whenever someone I know dies. But the feeling I felt honestly was superficial. I know that now. When Mama died, the pain was unfathomable. Now I am in their shoes. Now I know how it really feels to lose someone dear to you. As I give the previous days some reflection, I have learned two very precious points. At this very moment, I am giving these 2 points importance and priority.
Health is wealth. We should take care of ourselves! Let’s learn to repay ourselves. Love ourselves because life is short. Learn to priorities our health because without it, everything else would be impossible to do. Mama was only 62. For me, had she taken her health seriously, she could have at least lived 10 to 20 years more of her life. She could have hugged her grandchildren a million times more.
Re-assess the food that we take into our body. As we grow chronologically, our body’s needs change. There might be a need to go slow on some food that we used to eat by the bulk like meat, rice, legumes and nuts. There is also a need to include food in our diet that we don’t usually eat like fish, fruits and vegetables.
Exercise plays a very important role in keeping our health at its good. As we grow, out metabolism slows down, so together with changes in the diet, more exercise is also needed.
Cleanliness is next to godliness. In order to prevent sickness, maintain cleanliness in our homes and ourselves. Women must be extra careful as we are more prone to bacteria that causes UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) and vaginosis.
Let’s not play quack doctors. We do this for various reasons. Some people are scared or just loathe the idea of staying in the hospital. It could be that they don’t like needles or they hate the smell of hospital. Others might be very busy to make an appointment with their doctor. But for most Filipinos, which is a very sad reality, people would rather self-diagnose themselves or go to a quack doctor because hospitalization is very costly. With meager income for most Filipinos, health insurance is a luxury rather than a necessity. And government hospitals are either full or simply unaccommodating.
Despite these realities or whatever circumstances we may be, it is still wise to seek advice from medical experts. We might just have to re-think and redo our budget. To prevent the burden of giving out big amount of money every medical check up or hospitalization, it would help to set aside a few hundreds for this reason every payday. And don’t forget to use your Philhealth if you have.
Why is it that death, although it brings sadness and other negative emotions in us, it also brings enlightenment?
Just imagining loosing someone important in your life is already unbearable. But death teaches us that life is short, and so we got to put effort expressing our love to our dear ones. We’re all gonna die, it’s just a matter of who comes first to its entrance.
We’re spiritual beings living in a physical body. So if we can accept it, perhaps death wouldn’t look that scary. It’s just that, we will terribly miss those people we love. All I’m praying for my elders, for my loved ones and for myself, in the future and in God’s time, is a happy death and for me to be with them during the final hours. And I also hope, that we will have a feeling of fulfillment, of a life worth living.
And our body, yes, we only have one body. being conscious of it and taking care of it, is one thing we can do to add years to our life. =)
My deepest condolences again Mitch. At a young age, I have already lost so many important in my life and it’s not a feeling that you can get used to. Agree with you. Everyone should indeed take care of themselves. We need to keep ourselves healthy. After all, prevention is better than cure.
After what happened, it made me think of my kids. They’re still young. I want to secure their future first. I felt being with physically is also one of my responsibilities as a parent. I can do that by making sure that I am healthy, at least. I mean there are other factors like accidents and etc. But at least I am doing my part to make myself live longer and see them grow.
Death brings enlightenment to us because it gives us so many realizations in life. When my father died 8 yrs ago at the age of 44, I became aware of many things including our health. He’s still young and every organ in his body had complications. With my mother still around, we made sure that she had her check-up regularly. It’s hard to force old people nowadays because when they know they have to undergo medication, they are already thinking about their death.
Those two points are really important. Death brings so many emotions in our lives – anger, pain, longing, and love. I can’t say I know the feeling already. Each one of us handles the experiences in life differently but with all these, I know God has plans for us. I always believe in this in every aspect of my life.
My condolences dear.
Thank you Irene. It always eases the pain every time someone empathizes with you especially in times like this.