Awareness can safe a life!

Promote cancer awareness! We hear this all the time. That means educating ourselves and those around us about those signs and symptoms that raise red flags and for which we should immediately seek medical advice. Do you ever sit there and think...hmm, I wonder what this node or mole is, haven't noticed it before.  I've just been losing a lot of weight recently without even trying; I've been getting all these night sweats...I wonder why. Why am I bruising so much recently; I've been getting all these inexplicable fevers...and so on.  My son experienced several of these symptoms early on in his journey before his diagnosis, and I missed the warning signs because I didn't know. [See the entry titled Jayron-The Lesson of a Life.]
Homeostasis again...that word I love so much. The body's healthy state. Every minute; every second, our body is making biochemical and physiological adjustments to revert to its healthy state or baseline.  And those signs and symptoms I mentioned above are part of that process. 

Often, these symptoms creep up on us gradually and sometimes they are pretty overt. But the good news is that we know our bodies and we know intuitively when something is wrong.  It helps even more to be aware so that we know which of these changes to take seriously. It could save your life or the life of someone around you.

Here are some of those signs to look for from The Healthy, a newsletter that showcases healthy living advice for mind and body. Please click here.

What New Year Tradition

Happy New Year 2020! 

When I was younger in Cameroon, we would stay up until midnight, and when the hour struck, we would let out yelps of "Hooray!", "Happy New Year!", hug each other, eat and drink, thankful to have made it to the New Year, mindful of the fact that somewhere, someone hadn't. And the streets will be full of life and celebration until the wee hours of the morning. 

This tradition of counting down to midnight is, not surprisingly, common in many parts of the world.  Here in the US, other traditions are equally pretty solid. Singing the New Year song - Auld Lang Syne - as the midnight hour strikes to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new one; sharing a midnight kiss with your partner, to hopefully seal in some blessings and good luck and, per ancient European beliefs, to ward off evil; popping champagne; dropping the ball at Times Square in New York when the clock strikes midnight in the earliest time zone in the U.S; fireworks; eating specific foods on New Year's day like cabbage, black-eyed peas, pork, collard greens - there are fascinating origins attached to some of these predominantly southern food traditions - to bring good luck but also to ward off evil. In other parts of the world, there is more. Latinos believe that the color of your underwear on New Year's day can bring prosperity and success; in Spain, the eating of 12 grapes; in the Philippines, wearing circles represents prosperity, thus wearing polka dots and jingling loose coins can bring wealth. I am sure you have your own traditions and practices where you are or come from.  Please share.

A common tradition in many parts of the world is making New Year's resolutions.  Fun! Different people perceive this differently, from the cynical who think, yeah, it's that time again to make promises that this year will be better than the last or, one of the usual - be a better person, eat healthier, exercise more, read more, save more money, learn a new skill; make new friends.  Cynical because by February, the initial fire is gone and one research shows that less than 25% of people actually stay committed beyond February, and only about 8% are actually successful. My Zumba class is a good example. I fill up with new faces at the start of the year and by March, I am back to the regulars. Then there are the optimists who believe God has given them another year and a chance to make a difference and so they go in with all their heart and soul.  The stats for success don't change much from one group to another.  

I was thinking about this because I too have struggled with New Year resolutions.  I recently read a nice article on Forbes.com that I'd like to share here about how to turn your New Year resolutions that are more broad and vague into goals that are better defined, specific, actionable, and I'll add, bite-size.  In other words, be clear on what you want to accomplish, why it's important, and how you'll make it happen. Then you want to review your progress regularly, and above all, be consistent.  Another article suggested that a key component to incorporate in your resolutions is doing something that will benefit someone other than yourself.  The notion that we often focus on [mostly self-conceived] inadequacies, but if we were to also have a goal outside of ourselves, something that is bigger than us, it would serve to give our drive more meaning, plus the added bonus of the sweet feeling that comes with accomplishing something for someone else.

In any case, this is to raising my glass to a great year 2020 to all of you my readers and prospective readers, and your families. That it is a year of love, good health, progress, and realized goals.  As one quote goes: Today is the first blank page of a 365-page book, write a good one!