I have a lot of toys, so do my kids. In fact, my house is full of toys, where to me; it is more like I’m living in Disney! Am I wasting my money, or should I be spending it somewhere else?

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Few weeks ago, I had the grateful opportunity to attend a 3-hour speech by Robin Sharma. He said, “Don’t say you can’t afford to get a personal trainer, because you cannot not afford getting one.” I remembered a health awareness fact that it would cost an average person more than 50% of his healthcare cost at the last couple of months of his life. Think about it very well, and think about who would bares these costs. How much money would we be able to save if we would prevent ourselves from getting sick?

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You see I’ve learned it the hard way. I was into sports my whole life, but never absorbed it into my lifestyle; it was more like undertaking it because my friends did. I was an active person, never lazy, but didn’t want to even attempt to look up the definition of a ‘calorie.’ I knew that no matter what I do, I wouldn’t ever become an overweight person, maybe just a sad belly. So, everything seemed fine to me. At least, that’s what I thought.

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During the time when the most important part of the meal was dessert, I began feeling awkward while slowly loosing my eyesight. When the hospital informed me that I got diabetes, all I cared about was what should I do in order to go back to being a ‘normal’ person, eating whatever it is just to satisfy my hunger. I was in denial when told that I will remain diabetic for the rest of my life.

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Few years later, I’m still learning how to cope with diabetes. I want to live a ‘normal’ life, eat normal food, and not care about whether or not any seasonal illness (fever, etc.) is linked to failure in controlling my blood-sugar level. How can I do that?

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When such a thing strikes a person, there are two ways to go, up or down. Not a lot of people around the world have the ability to take in bad news, and turn it around into good news. That’s what I wanted to do; I wanted diabetes to become good news, sort of like the news that you’d be happy to hear because it is a good life-changing factor. Is this even possible? Yes it is.

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Getting diabetes requires a person to totally change his lifestyle, into one that works very well with diabetes. My task became to contain diabetes for myself, while raising awareness to others, especially my close friends and family so that they would enable preventing themselves from falling victim to this illness. To contain diabetes I would have to know almost everything about this illness, while raising awareness means that I would have to master containment.

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Cadbury is not the only yummy food out there. That’s what I have later learned. The new lifestyle meant that I would have to find alternatives to the stuff I used to call food showing up in front of my face everywhere I look. When you look closely, there are so much better food waiting for you to consume, but are quietly found on racks in almost every grocery store. Look for them, because they exists in the ‘healthy’ section.

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What compliments good food is the importance of being physically active, and the same approach as above applies. Mostly, we find products that help us become lazier and lazier people. Instead of walking to point B, there’s this ‘Segway’ that works perfectly with out bloated tummy. And, Instead of jogging, you act like you’re jogging in a videogame console. Even our kids, we get them a huge TV, a comfortable chair, and wish they just stop talking and engage themselves in killing each other in the cyber world. I don’t know about you, but to me, this is nonsense.

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This is why I don’t hesitate investing in items that make me eat better, workout at home, and help keep my kids active and on their feet.  I strongly believe that this is the second best type of investment we can ever make. (The first being investing in your knowledge) Don’t say you cannot afford a home gym, because you cannot not afford getting one. A proper cross trainer, treadmill, or an Olympic bench press with full sets of weight cost less than an average smart phone! Even better, organic food costs more than processed food, but if you consider cooking at home, then it is much cheaper than going out for dinner!

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Diabetes introduced me to many great hobbies, made me a more intelligent person, gave me the ability to high self-control, helped me become a socially active person, and most of all, reminds me everyday that life is short. Diabetes gave me strength by becoming a more devout Muslim, and to be very thankful to God for all the things I can do and have that others cannot and do not.  Buying your household tools that would help you all live a healthy life is an investment that you won’t ever regret. You will use it, and probably over use it. Now move it!

Categories: Social

Tags: diabetes, health, healthy-living, nutrition, robin sharma, sports