How Our Priorities Can Make Life Healthy, Happy, And Meaningful
When our priorities get messed up, life can become messed up.
“People first, then money, then things.” -Suze Orman
The famed and beautiful expert in personal finance, Suze Orman, is notorious for coining this phrase.
I beg to differ about putting people first. It turns out; the following three things depend on each other. “Health first, then people, and then money.”
Your lucky day is the day when you adopt a mindset that prioritizes your health and the people in your life before anything else. And yes, money is a powerful variable that contributes to our health and happiness.
Priority # 1.Health. Health is a dynamic state that often loses priority until it is threatened. Don’t lose it. The more we understand about health, the better off we are.
Although health is about much more than having a body that is in good working order, here my focus is on the body. The body is the house in which we live, the structure of an individual. Like a machine, the body is composed of a network of parts and organs that work together. They depend on each other. When something goes wrong with one part, it influences the whole operating system. Oftentimes, when we ignore subtle changes in our health, we develop chronic diseases.
Cardiovascular-Kidney Metabolic Health
1 in 3 US adults have 3 or more risk factors leading to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and kidney disease.
The American Heart Association (AHA) was founded in 1924, the year my mother was born. Because very little was known about how to treat heart disease and stroke, a few cardiologists and social workers got together and formed an organization. This organization has grown to help millions of people manage their heart health.
Based on ongoing scientific research and discoveries, they help us to promote cardiovascular health and prevent cardiovascular disease; heart attacks and strokes.
Recently, the AHA identified a new medical condition. This condition is called cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome (CKM), and it reflects a strong link between obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease.
As younger Americans are diagnosed with chronic diseases like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, they are at higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Patients with Type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of developing kidney disease than those without.
To be diagnosed with chronic diseases, like high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes, is common, preventable, and/or manageable with a healthy lifestyle. This can prevent further development of kidney disease.
Focusing on kidney disease with CKM, the American Heart Association promotes guidance to treat early stages and prevent further progression. This shines the light on prevention, and /or control, if you already are diagnosed.
When our health is compromised and the body is not operating optimally, we don’t feel good. That prevents us from doing the things that we love, embrace life to the fullest, and join the 100+ longevity club.
How to make health a daily top priority. Keep your awareness on your body parts and look out for changes that need your attention, upgrades, replacements, repairs, and maintenance. Every day, I send my initial gratitude to the Universe, being thankful for my body and physical health. Without a working body I can’t do much. Besides, I want to be a member of that 100+ longevity club.
Do what healthy people do. Get your heart rate up and exercise for at least 30 minutes per day. Join an exercise class. For more than twenty years, I have been doing Jazzercise, an hour class that includes aerobics, resistance with weights, and stretching. Mix it up; walk, swim, bike, do any physical activity that you enjoy. The more you enjoy it, the more likely you are to stick with it.
Eat good food. Enjoy the DASH eating plan, Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. Besides high blood pressure, it also improves blood sugar, cholesterol, and obesity. DASH is my life line. It has held me back from developing cardiovascular disease; a heart attack like my Dad and a stroke like my Mom.
It is not easy. Every day is a struggle to do the right thing. Some days I do better than others, but it is a daily priority that I include in “staying the course.” AHA created a fact sheet of Life’s Essential 8 metrics that gives guidance and recommendations on how we can live a healthy lifestyle.
Priority #2. People. People need people, we all do. This include family, friends, and people in the community. We share, learn, teach, and support each other.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that social connectedness is the degree to which people have and perceive a desired number, quality, and diversity of relationships that create a sense of belonging, and being cared for, valued, and supported.
Social connections Affect Our Health In More Ways Than You May Know.
Social connections improve our ability to recover from stress, anxiety and chronic diseases. People with strong social bonds and emotional support are better able to withstand heart disease, stroke, dementia, and depression.
To be alone is not the same as being lonely. I enjoy my own company and thrive in my aloneness. But loneliness is a problem that affects people of all ages, all over the world. Studies show that adults over 50, who may be lonely due to loss of family members and friends, are at higher risk for disease and an early death.
There is nothing better than having physical people in our physical proximity. But when that is not possible, finding people with common interests and values, any which way we can, is meaningful.
That includes people that you connect with on social media and the internet. Medium.com is such a community. I have been an active member for only a few months, but I have already connected with dozens of people from around the world.
What I have learned is that our humanness is the same. We all experience love, losses, injustices, and lessons learned. We read, write, and share pieces of our life. Sharing the planet with eight billion people, scattered around this big world of ours, I have learned one thing; we are more the same than we are different. Yet, it is our differences that inspire change and betterment.
Mostly, I see how clearly we are connected with hope. Hope is the thread that runs through us all; hope about a better tomorrow, hope about world peace, hope about personal growth, hope about better relationships, and hope about finding meaning between the variables that make life spectacular.
How to make people a daily top priority. Become people conscious. Finding a group of people that you can spend time with on regular intervals is imperative to personal health and well being. By joining a group, like Jazzercise, I not only get a good workout three times per week, I also get to socialize with awesome women. We have lunch dates and get together for holiday parties.
Connect with other community groups. Senior centers in your area often provide transportation, and they have weekly exercise classes, lunches, and recreational activities. Volunteer at your local hospital, nursing home, and public library.
Churches and synagogues are beautiful places to meet and engage in social activities, making new friends and celebrating holidays. Also, check out if you have an AARP community in your area. People need people, we all need each other in different ways, at different times.
Priority #3. Money. We need money Although health is our primary wealth, having enough money makes a difference. Money in need is a friend indeed.
Money is a form of currency that we use to exchange or buy products and services. We need money to buy food, a house, and a car. We need money to pay rent, taxes, debt, and to buy health insurance. Saving for a rainy day, college education, and retirement also require money. In fact, it takes tons of money to pay for our needs and wants. At times, most people don’t have enough.
People With Greater Wealth Generally Live Longer And Have Lower Rates of Chronic Disease.
Wealth is something else that grows out of money. Wealth is considered owning an abundance of valuable personal possessions, property, bank accounts, or land. Some people are wealthy, also called rich, while others are poor. The latter means not having enough money to sustain a healthy life style.
But here is the biggest secret that I have learned. Not all wealthy people are rich, they may actually be poorer than the poorest pauper. One other secret is that some people who may be considered poor by social economic standards, are in fact the wealthiest of all. Personal perception is a valuable tool available to everyone. We chose how to frame our past, present, and future.
However, the reality is that we need enough money for food, shelter, education, retirement, and health insurance. Those are basic needs. We also need money to pay for recreational activities, vacations, dance classes, seminars, and having fun and entertainment.
This is where Suze Orman, the expert in personal finance comes into the picture. She helps to educate the average American, who has little financial knowledge, in how to save and acquire wealth. This is a science, like everything else, based on personal and professional experiences.
Suze guides Americans in how to get out of debt, invest, and how to pay for education and retirement. That is her attribute and contribution to the world, and her claim to fame. We all have an attribute worthy of sharing with others. You and everyone else. Mine is to promote cardiovascular health and help you to understand that even as we grow older, we can still be healthy. But money matters. There is a link between wealth and health equity.
Studies show that people who have greater wealth generally live longer. They also found that there is an association between greater wealth and lower mortality, higher life expectancy, and lower risk of obesity, smoking, hypertension, and asthma. Other studies show that poor people who don’t have health insurance suffer and die from more chronic diseases and cancer than the well -to -do who has health insurance.
How to make money a daily priority. Keep your eyes on your money. What we keep our focus on grows. We need to know how much money comes in, and how much goes out every month. Knowing how much things cost at the supermarket and how to save on electricity will not put us in the top 1 percent, but it still makes a difference.
By changing mindless spending to mindful spending, we can gather 100 dollars a month, and invest it into an index fund. Index funds are mutual funds that track popular market indexes, like the S&P 500 index. If you are able to mindfully save a little bit more, by cutting other expenses, you can put the extra $$ under your pillow and save for a rainy day.
Writing on Medium. com has proven to be a super income vein for many authors. There is no lack of guidance on how to go about writing stories that people love to read and share. Neither is there any shortage on how to earn money on the Medium.com platform. Starting out, earning $ 2.52 cents for a story may be your monthly income. But if you don’t give up, love to write, enjoy Medium’s community interaction, and stay focused on writing quality stories, your $$ will grow. Just ask Casey Botticello, who wrote a helpful story, called How Much Money Can You Make Writing For Medium?
Many older adults over age 65 have difficulty in managing monthly expenses on their social security check. I make no light of that because the problem is real. But the good news is that everyone has health insurance. Making do with what we have is not always easy. But finding a way to optimize and enjoy what we have makes life better.
Life is often messy. Focusing on these three priorities can help us to simplify life. By keeping our awareness on what matters most; health, people, and money, life can be pretty awesome. Then everything falls into place, the way we intend and deserve life to be.
Thank you.
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