Real health care

 

BY ELLEN ROHR

contributing writer

 

“Someday I hope you’ll get the chance…to live like you were dying.”

~Tim McGraw

 

The health insurance debate rages on with town hall meetings, public options, death panels…politics as usual. What does any of this have to do with healthy living? Yes, we need insurance reform and yes, we need to address what we will and won’t pay for. In the meantime, we can impact our health by making better decisions and taking personal responsibility.

Addictions will kill us. If you weigh too much, drink too much and smoke, you are going to get sick.

 

Stress will kill us. If you regularly boil over with frustration and rage, get red in the face, forget to breathe… you are going to get sick.

 

Why not take a vacation? Your health depends on it.

 

I was fortunate enough to take a vacation in Italy this summer. Right before we left the USA, I arranged to have my smart phone upgraded to work with European phone and Internet providers. Didn’t want to be out of touch! Once I got to Italy, none of it worked. I panicked for about five minutes. Then, I got a grip. Am I so darn important that the world will stop spinning if I can’t check my voice messages for two weeks? No. Everyone will be fine. And, if the team burns the place down while I am gone? We get to start over fresh and that will solve a lot of problems.

 

So, I dropped the self-importance and picked up the present moment. I visited with my family without looking at the clock on my phone (which was stuck on 7:42 Missourah time.) We strolled (no power walking) on thousand year-old cobblestones. We stayed up late and slept in. We watched electrical storms move from one end of the horizon to the other. We looked at sculptures and paintings and architecture. I even tried out my few Italian words, and experienced the warmth of the lovely, Italian people. It was incredible.

 

Italians eat wonderful food, fresh and perfectly prepared. They sip wine and lots of water during leisurely meals. You don’t see very many overweight people. And, they express themselves! If they are angry or happy, you know it. Are they healthier? According to this poll, Italy ranks 4th in worldwide life expectancy. The same poll ranks the USA 50th.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/11/life.expectancy.health.care/index.html. Perhaps it’s the Italian lifestyle. Perhaps it’s because they take vacations. Most Italians take 4-6 weeks paid vacation every year.

 

You just must punch out now and then, for your physical and mental health. Did you take some time off this summer? No? Pull out your calendar and block out some time. If you have forgotten how to vacation, here are…

 

Ellen’s viva vacation dos and don’ts

 

• Do pack light…however, always take one nice outfit and good shoes. What if you did get invited to meet the Queen?
• Don’t look outside the usa for the usa. Enjoy what a foreign country has to offer and act like an invited guest. Be polite and offer to do the dishes.
• Do learn how to say, please, thank you, nice to meet you, excuse me, hello and goodbye in the local language.
• Do smile.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff.
• Do something you usually don’t do. If love going to the beach, try a trip to Alaska.
• Do consult a guidebook. Look for an author with a travel “tone” and philosophy that resonates with you. I like Rick Steves. Rick says, “If something is not to your liking, change your liking.” Nice!
• Do a couple of tourist-y things, like tours and popular sight-seeing spots. They are popular for good reason.
• Don’t overdo the agenda. One organized event per day is plenty…and it’s nice to enjoy a day as it spontaneously develops.
• Do eat local food.
• Don’t insist on a steak, “well done.”
• If you have kids, do find activities that kids really like. I guarantee your 3-year-old will hate 95% of Disneyworld and 100% of a tour of Versailles. Do take your Lego-maniac to Lego-land and your 17-year-old hot-rodder to a race car driving school. Set them up for vacation success and do kid things while your kids are young. When they are older, and they will be…in about 10 minutes…you can enjoy adult adventures together.
• Do plan to be out of touch. Once upon a time, not so long ago, your great-great-grandfather traveled across the ocean on a wooden ship with fingers crossed. He didn’t call in.
• Do travel with the family. So many of your family stories are born on vacation.
• Don’t over-react when your mother starts in on her crazy political views (about health care?)
• Do expect the stories to come from the things you didn’t plan.
• Do go for at least a week if you can. If you can’t, take a day or a long weekend, and dive into vacation mode.
• Don’t forget a camera.
• Do leave the camera behind now and then.
• Don’t go into debt with too much of a good thing. It defeats the purpose to be stressed out over the tab.
• Don’t complain.
• Do count your blessings.
• Do keep a journal and jot down a couple of things and thoughts that you don’t want to forget.
• Don’t pay attention to anyone’s list of Vacation Dos and Don’ts.
  

Vacation tips for your team

 

You can help develop healthy, happy lifestyle habits for your team, too.

 

• Eliminate “sick” days and embrace days “off.” This eliminates the temptation to adopt a sore-throat-voice and call in “sick” when you are really going to the Pearl Jam concert and want to get a head start on the drive. Does it matter if they are off “sick” or “well” as long as they let you know ahead of time?
• Do limit the number of paid days off as per your budget, and apply disciplinary action to those who abuse the privilege.
• Do stagger vacation requests. It’s rough when your whole team is deer hunting on the first cold snap of no-heat calls. Have a sales contest and the winner gets first pick of vacation days.
• Make sure your over-achieving team members actually take their vacation. It isn’t a badge of honor to be indispensable. It’s an illusion.
• Warning: Theft-prone employees never want to take a day off, for fear of being discovered. Beware of the bookkeeper or Service Manager who is in early and stays late every day.
• As the owner may, you might jump in and cover these positions while the team members vacation. This could create empathy, appreciation and good ideas for improving the position. And, it could help you see how much time is wasted and how many mistakes are made. Either way…it’s eye-opening.
• Encourage vacationers to bring their Top 3 photos and a fun story (maximum 5 minutes) to share at the next team meeting.
• Offer foreign language classes and add travel books to the company library.
• Remind team members that a career is just a part of a full life. Prioritize family and vacation and community service.

 

A vacation…for an afternoon or a month…is a sorbet for the mind. It’s a chance for your soul to expand and create. It’s a time for your body to stretch and engage, to breathe and relax.

 

One of the issues with this health care debate is “end of life counseling.” Why not engage in some of this with yourself right now. Imagine the end of your life. It is going to happen. We are all going to die. If that day were today, would you be proud of what you have accomplished? Would you be filled with regrets or awe or enthusiasm? Would you embrace death or fight it with every available cell and cent? Would you delight in a life well lived?           

 

“The contemplation of eternity within the very moment of life.”

 

~from The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbary

 

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