“Steering your Health”
By Pete Smith
In House Chaplain
It was late in the night when I was awakened from my sleep. I could not breathe, and it felt like a ton of bricks was sitting on my chest. The next thing I remember was the emergency medical team shining bright lights into my eyes. They helped me regain consciousness. I had fainted on my bedroom floor. No one knew what happened, but something alarming affected my health. Many doctor visits followed to determine that my health challenges were stress-related. The symptoms that I experienced brought on a panic attack. This shocked me because I thought I was the picture of perfect health. I lived my life wide open all the time and had high energy. The mental and spiritual pieces of life seemed strong. Stress was normal for me, and it had never stopped me before. I felt like the Doctors were exaggerating and making a big deal out of nothing. The Doctor questioned my activities and identified that I had made no room for nothing but work in my life. I had no outlet, hobby, activity, or plan to manage stress on a daily basis. Balance was missing in my life, and I was not managing my stress effectively. I was not steering my health in a good direction.
I would never make it to a good old age the way I was living. I needed to steer my health in a different direction. I quickly began to find things I enjoyed doing that would help with stress relief. I also realized that my diet, exercise, and discipline impacted my health. Managing my mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being also became a priority. Being intentional about my health has inspired my best life!
Over-the-road trucking is challenging work. It doesn’t take long until a health crisis sneaks up and robs you of your health. A health breakdown may not happen today, but it is bound to catch you down the road. Drivers can struggle with poor health, high stress, bad diets, and strained relationships. Often, there is no real plan to deal with these challenges. You must steer your health and wellness in the right direction. Make time to prioritize yourself. It is a big step to a healthier you and a longer life.
Here are a few suggestions to “Steer Your Health” to a better place.
1. Steer your physical health. Schedule time every day to exercise. Utilize what is already around you: walk, stretch, and engage in physical activity.
2. Steer your healthy diet. Value nutrition. Meal prep and plan what and when you eat. Constant fast food is a poor diet and will not sustain good health or a long life. Discover effective ways and ideas to develop healthy eating habits.
3. Steer your activity. Identify activities and hobbies that you enjoy. Start a collection, play a game, or engage in entertainment that allows you to create some personal recreational time. Sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked truck and looking out the window has a terrible impact on your health. Do something other than sit. Do not allow your phone to be your source of entertainment. Explore local places that may be right under your nose that you don’t even know about.
4. Steer your health mentally. You must have emotional structure in your life—purpose to have meaningful, solid relationships. Don’t do life alone. Isolation is a deadly enemy to your health. Feed your mind with positive things. Be mindful of what you watch and the company you keep. Don’t give junk rent in your head.
5. Steer your health habits. Let go of unhealthy habits. Set a goal to work on changing one unhealthy habit in your life and see what happens. There is no better time than now to establish healthy habits. Set some obtainable positive goals. Celebrate small wins!
6. Steer your health faith. Faith is essential for life to have balance. God, our creator, is always at work guiding us on this life journey. Our awareness and trust in His process can bring peace where there is no understanding. Faith grounds us in the middle of the craziness of life.
Life is full of surprises, but it is also exactly what we make it. We have the ability to drive our health in the direction we want to go. Steer your health today in the right direction. You may end up in a great and healthy place! We end up where we are headed. May you be healthy, happy, and whole on your journey!
