Death to most of us is really painful.  I say condolence and feel sad whenever someone I know dies. But the feeling I felt honestly was superficial.  I know that now.  When Mama died, the pain was unfathomable.  Now I am in their shoes.  Now I know how it really feels to lose someone dear to you.  As I give the previous days some reflection, I have learned two very precious points.  At this very moment,  I am giving these 2 points importance and priority.

Health is wealth.  We should take care of ourselves! Let's learn to repay ourselves.  Love ourselves because life is short.  Learn to priorities our health because without it, everything else would be impossible to do.  Mama was only 62.  For me, had she taken her health seriously, she could have at least lived 10 to 20 years more of  her life.  She could have hugged her grandchildren a million times more.

Re-assess the food that we take into our body.  As we grow chronologically, our body's needs change.  There might be a need to go slow on some food that we used to eat by the bulk like meat, rice, legumes and nuts. There is also a need to include food in our diet that we don't usually eat like fish, fruits and vegetables.

Exercise plays a very important role in keeping our health at its good.  As we grow, out metabolism slows down, so together with changes in the diet, more exercise is also needed.

Cleanliness is next to godliness.  In order to prevent sickness, maintain cleanliness in our homes and ourselves.  Women must be extra careful as we are more prone to bacteria that causes UTI (Urinary Tract Infection)  and vaginosis.

Let's not play quack doctors.  We do this for various reasons.  Some people are scared or just loathe the idea of staying in the hospital. It could be that they don't like needles or they hate the smell of hospital.  Others might be very busy to make an appointment with their doctor.  But for most Filipinos, which is a very sad reality, people would rather self-diagnose themselves or go to a quack doctor because hospitalization is very costly.  With meager income for most Filipinos,  health insurance is a luxury rather than a necessity.  And government hospitals are either full or simply unaccommodating.

Despite these realities or whatever circumstances we may be, it is still wise to seek advice from medical experts.  We might just have to re-think and redo our budget.  To prevent the burden of giving out big amount of money every medical  check up or hospitalization, it would help to set aside a few hundreds for this reason every payday.  And don't forget to use your Philhealth if you have.

Why is it that death, although it brings sadness and other negative emotions in us, it also brings enlightenment?

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