Paying the interest on your lifestyle 'credit card'?
After months away from MyKitchenSync, just came across this post in my drafts folder. Perhaps it deserves the light of day...
I posted a tweet some time back which quickly got a few retweets and replies:
I posted a tweet some time back which quickly got a few retweets and replies:
I think the effect on your health by your lifestyle choices is a bit like interest on a credit card. At some point you have to pay it back.
— Thomas Kilroy (@mykitchensync)
January 18, 2014
Over on Facebook, I followed this up with a more introspective view on the idea:
"Been thinking a lot about mortality and lifestyle recently. A colleague was cleared of cancer by his doctor last night while another family friend was given just 12 months to live by his.
This morning I received news that a dear friend is recovering from a sudden stroke after having dinner with Mrs. K. only a few nights previously in Kathmandu.
Even here on Facebook I have 3 or 4 friends in my list who are actually gone long before their time - their pages remaining as a tribute.
If you smoke, drink, make poor diet choices or balk at the idea of exercise - good for you. Enjoy it. After all, it's your life.
But be prepared NOT to see out that retirement. Be prepared for NOT watching your children or grandchildren grow up. Be prepared for leaving your friends and family to wipe away tears of regret and sadness at your lost potential.
One day the interest on that lifestyle 'credit card' has to be paid back. Start today. You owe it to yourself."
To try and build on this momentum, I have also recently been toying with the idea of adapting a more vegetarian and, dare I say it, vegan lifestyle. That might be a step too far just right now (since it will be a family decision), but my point is change IS possible.
So many industry leaders talk up their belief in 'business transformation’, 'change management’ and ‘driving innovation’. And they believe it. Really they do. But how many put the same level of planning and investment into their own lifestyle.
We know what happens to a car when you don't look after the engine, so why put a business or retirement plan in place where you're not around to reap the reward.
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