In primary five, we were taught that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I started begging my mum to buy me apples every day. In my head, if an apple a day could keep the doctor away for that day, then, it meant that if I ate two apples a day, it would keep the doctor away for two days. She would comply sometimes and buy me two. Other times she would not buy, and I would feel smart that I already ate two the day before, so I still won. Wise huh? I stopped requesting for the apples after a while because she seemed to always buy them anyways.
Sometime ago, I fell very sick and I also had to take off a tooth. That tooth had hurt me for almost five years but, the thing with the tooth was that it would just hurt a little and stop so, I didn’t really pay any attention to it. Until it began to really hurt. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t brush my teeth, couldn’t drink water and couldn’t even open my mouth. I would carry a pen and paper whenever I went out, so I could write my responses to things because I knew I couldn’t respond vocally to anything anybody had to say to me and it started to give me migraines too. There was nothing I didn’t do to at least reduce the pains but, nothing seemed to work. Not even the legendary salt and warm water solution. Next day, I was on the first bus to Enugu town to go and see a dentist. After that tooth was removed, it felt like everything in the world had become perfect. All the things I refused to listen to before about taking care of my teeth, especially with the intake of chocolates and ice cream, I began to follow religiously.
What am I getting into? A lot of us take our health for granted. We would jeopardize our health for some pleasure. I couldn’t say no to ice-cream and even though I knew it wasn’t very good for my teeth, I just liked the sweetness and I continued until it got worse and I couldn’t even open my mouth because it was all swollen. A lot of us are just like me. You know that you shouldn’t drink that very cold water, but you would rather take it because you liked chewing the ice blocks. You would consume almost ten bottles of soda daily and you would say you are addicted meanwhile you know your sugar level doesn’t agree with what you are taking.
There are some people who would rather spend their money on unimportant things than take care of themselves. These people would spend millions on vacations, hairdo, makeup, partying and the latest gadgets, but when they fall sick, these same people would rather get those roadside herbal mixtures or drug mixtures from roadside kiosks than go for good treatment. I can understand if you sincerely do not have money for good treatment but, it’s a different case when you have the money and refuse to take care of your health. You are only deceiving yourself. Yes, there are people who have misplaced priorities and unfortunately, they also misplaced their health in the priority list.
Your health is very important. The tiniest headache should be taken care of immediately. Even that cough and catarrh that you are telling yourself would go by itself wouldn’t really go away if you do not chase it away. Its these small things you ignore that could lead to big issues. You see a swelling on the side of your breast and you just conclude that it might be stress or related to your period and you ignore it completely. Soon enough, it would form a boil and very soon, it will become a cancerous lump and if you keep convincing yourself that nothing is wrong with you even after it becomes obvious that something is wrong, you are going to die an avoidable death. You don’t deserve that. So, what I’m saying is that your health is like the one thing you have absolute control over. Stay away from anything that isn’t good for you. Go for checkups regularly. Eat enough fruits and drink plenty water. Exercise to keep fit. Eat a balanced diet as much as you can. Cut down on your sugar intake and just generally live a healthy life.
Thank you for reading.
Wink’s Corner
