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Stop Putting Off That Physical Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated it best. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” That quote referred to America entering World War II. That was then, but now there is another type of fear that grips each and everyone one of us. It is not just the fear of getting older but the fear of the possible diseases that come with age. No one can escape aging, and with aging the body begins to wear down.
How many years has it been since you have seen a physician and gotten a complete physical, from the bottom of your toes to the top of your head? Going to the doctor’s office for the flu or a bad cold does not count. We must set aside our fears to pick up that telephone and to make an appointment for a complete physical, including full body scans and tests. As we grow older, each year we put off getting a physical shortens our life span. Even if you feel healthy, it is not an indicator of your physical well-being. There are many factors to keeping the body healthy, and there are many types of diseases that are masked.
Statistics for heart disease are eye opening: between 2 to 3 million Americans have heart failure; 400,000 new cases
are diagnosed each year; heart failure causes 39,000 deaths each year and is a contributing factor in 225,000 more.
Or the gut wrenching feeling you get when the Doctor states, “You have cancer.” Your life flashes before your eyes.
Heart disease and the Big “C” are not the only diseases that can attack the body, there are so many more. Some
are so silent that we never suspect we are carriers. That is why each and every year we must take the time and get those
physicals. We all make the most excellent excuses: I do not have time; I am too busy with work; I feel fine; I have never felt
better; I do not have the money right now. All of these excuses are human reaction to the fear of the unknown. We have to
put aside that fear and make those appointments, for to put off today what you think you can do tomorrow may kill you!
There is no excuse on the face of this earth that should make us put off the most important appointment for our life.
Life is a precious gift and we should revel in it and fight for it. Now stop making excuses and go get that physical exam!
- SharLeigh
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