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If It's Going to Be, It's Up to You!

June 02, 2018

For the better part of last week, for some strange reason I found myself talking to people about taking responsibility for their health and not waiting for things to get to the point of no-return, then they start running all over the place seeking help. Actually I now remember a lot of these conversations were started by me asking the people I was talking to when they last went for a full body checkup. Of course most of them were not for the idea and I even remember one of them saying that as long as he wasn’t sick, he didn’t see the need to go see a doctor. Then out of curiosity I found myself asking most of the men I had a chance to talk to whether they did get their nuts checked in April. 

 

Now, before you start thinking I am nuts (pun intended) for even asking this question, let me remind you that April was testicular cancer awareness month, where men were supposed to check their nuts. Of course I wasn’t going around the streets stopping every strange man and asking them whether they got their nuts checked! This is a conversation I was having with close friends. Sadly though, I realized that very few men actually did get tested. If you are a man and you are reading this, are you one of those who never got tested? I would encourage you not to take your body for granted; get tested for you never know what could be going on with your nuts. They could be nuts (again, pun intended).

 

So, why are you talking about things that should have happened in April now, someone might be asking? Well, let’s just say that I have encountered a few people who have been having fears that all is not well with them, but the most interesting thing is that they don’t want to go get checked.  At this point let me take this opportunity to address my fellow believers; I know most of you feel that going to hospital to get checked is like a violation of your faith, like you are taunting the devil. I have a question for you, which is better, getting checked and putting that matter to rest, or living with uncertainties for the rest of your life? Why not go get checked and if you find there is something to worry about then you now apply your faith to deal with it? And this is not just for testicular cancer, but it also goes for any other area of your body, including HIV checkup.  

 

Going back to the issue of testicular cancer, regardless of your profession, race or religion, as long as you are a man whose age ranges between 20 years and 55 years, it would do you good to get checked because this is the age set that is normally prone to attack.  The good thing is, the condition is treatable especially when discovered early, hence the need to keep doing a checkup every so often, something that you can actually manage to do by yourself. Your health is your responsibility, don’t leave it to chance. 

 

It is not quite certain whether one can prevent testicular cancer but there are things one can do to reduce the possibilities of it happening. This includes:

  1. Building up your immune system
  2. Eating a cancer-fighting diet
  3. Taking nutritional supplements 
  4. Exercising regularly and consistently
  5. Avoiding stress
  6. Detoxifying and protecting your liver, the one organ in the body that is on the forefront of fighting cancer in your body.

 

By the way, when it comes to nutritional supplements, I have a very good recommendation I can offer to anyone who is looking for such, regardless of where in the world you are in.

 

Like I already mentioned, it is your responsibility to take care of your health and so all the above things can only work for you if you commit yourself to doing them. If you want to ensure your body is healthy, then you have to take responsibility for your body to ensure everything is alright.  By the way, the six things I have enumerated above can work for your overall body, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman.

 

As I was thinking about the number of men I have spoken to so far who are afraid of going for checkup, I realized that many of us are no different from these men. We know we have issues in our lives that we need to deal with but we really don’t want to address them because as the saying goes, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. We know we have issues that are pulling us down such as procrastination, laziness, “excusitis” (a condition that makes you give excuses for not doing what you know you are supposed to do), lack of self-initiative, etc, but we don’t address those issues until when it is too late, or until we lose a deal or fail examinations because of any one of those issues. Why wait until you have a situation in your hands for you to start struggling with it when you could have prevented it by doing a self “checkup”?

 

For instance, we just started a new month, unbelievably, the 6thmonth since the year begun. My question to you is, when you look at the plans you had set for yourself at the beginning of the year (if you did have any), how are you doing with them? Are you on course or have you lost your way? How many items have you checked-off your things to achieve in 2018 list? If you have not been doing as well as you were supposed to, what are you doing to resolve that situation? Or are you waiting until the end of the year for you to carry forward your unmet goals to the next year? 

 

A self-checkup done early enough could have helped you come up with the right strategies for you to fulfill your dreams and goals for the year 2018. No amount of motivational speeches or inspirational books will help you if you do not take the necessary steps to making the right decisions that will help you achieve your goals. That is why this week in the ongoing #52BooksIn52Weeks2018 book reading challenge I am recommending a book by Robert H. Schuller called, If it’s going to be, it’s up to me”. Why? Because whatever you want to achieve in life, you have to do it yourself. 

 

If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, then you have to plan and execute that lifestyle yourself. If you want to achieve your goal within the remaining months of this year, then you will have to take the necessary steps and apply the necessary discipline to ensure that you achieve those goals. And if it is ensuring that your body and your health are in top shape, your doctor won’t do it for you. It is your own personal responsibility to ensure that you take care of yourself by eating right, exercising, resting enough and simply taking care of yourself.

 

So, as we approach the second half of the year, are you still going to go through it like you have been doing the first half, or will you now actively take control of your life by ensuring you do a self-check in every area of your life that you feel needs a check-up?

 

To paraphrase what Robert H. Schuller said,  whatever you want to achieve this year, if it’s going to be, then it’s up to you.

 

PS: This article was originally published in Tanzania's Guardian On Sunday on the 3rd of June, 2018, under my weekly column "Thoughts in Words".

 

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