Your Health is Your Wealth

To all the moms out there who haven’t been physically well lately: wow---I am so sorry! You really don’t know how good it is to have your health until you don’t. I am only recently recovering from pneumonia. It really knocked me. I couldn’t stop sleeping and was in pain with no energy for seven days. I’m only really feeling better now after two full weeks of recovering.

When you’re a mom you are rarely ‘allowed’ to be sick. I mean, how does the household run when mom is down? I am fortunate to have a wonderful husband with a flexible job, a great baby sitter and some family near by; but, for those of you who don’t have that or lack a support network for one reason or another, it really takes its toll. I honestly don’t know how I would have managed it alone. I was not able to take care of myself, let alone parent my children. And all that time in bed trying to get better made me think of that saying we’ve all heard again and again…your health really is your wealth. What else in life truly matters?

It’s only when we hit our low points that we can truly come to appreciate the highs. But not even the ‘highs’ just the even keel. I struggled with an overwhelming sense of guilt while I was sick. I felt so bad that I was sleeping so much and that my kids were missing me and asking when I was going to be better. For some women out there, that time may never come and for others it’s a lot longer haul than two weeks! So all I can say is we have to try our best to not take one single second of good health for granted. It can all change in a heartbeat and we don’t know what is around the next corner. I do believe that when we have illness or injury it is our body’s way of saying SLOW DOWN. I couldn’t do anything but take it easy. Sometimes there is no other way to get us to stop and start taking care of ourselves. But please, take my advice and do something to take care of you every single day. NO GUILT. Just take time to be present and appreciate your pain free workout or your unlabored breathing. It’s the little things but boy do those little things ever add up.

Be Well,

LEW