A funny thing happened on
way to work today. I realized that even though professionals preach health and well being, they might not have a clue how to get there. The old saying that "shoemaker has no shoes" comes to mind.Recently I have experienced several situations involving healthcare personnel supposedly in business of holistic health. They purport to teach health and well being strategies. In all situations, projects were planned and commitments made. Individuals expressed desire to achieve goal, but were unable to follow through. They become irritable and defensive when questioned. They respond with excuses and complaints stating that they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. They admit that they have been neglecting family and other important parts of their life. It's somebody else's fault. They play victim. Yet they continue to see no contradiction in telling others how to run their lives, which foods to eat or not eat, which herbs to take, which supplements to buy to stay healthy.
Unfortunately, I see this all too often. Perhaps you do too. Healthcare professionals often focus on one way to achieve health, and ignore rest. They focus only on diet or exercise, supplements or new age options. Or they become so over involved in caring for everyone else that they forget about themselves. They forget about dangers of chronic stress resulting from life problems and lack of balance. Stress kills. Professionals who preach health on a daily basis, can let themselves become so busy and so stressed that their own health is at risk. But they don't stop long enough to see it.
These are usually good people with wonderful hearts and positive motivation who tend to focus on others and ignore caring for themselves. But, what kind of models are they? Over time, stress takes its toll emotionally and physically.
When you travel by air, flight attendants tell you that if you have small children and there is an emergency, you must put your oxygen mask on first, before helping child. Why? Because if you have no oxygen yourself, you aren't much use to anyone else!
Similarly, if healthcare professionals do not believe that managing their stress, balancing their life, and improving their health and well being is important, how can they teach this to others? Research is pretty solid on fact that stress kills.
