's motd Sunday January 2, 2011

[Guest guest]

HANDLE WITH

CARE

Sunday, 02 January 2011

The first day night of 2011, I

stayed up a little late again, reading E-mail. I read

an E-mail from a lady named Ann. She told

me that for the past fourteen years, she's taken care

of her husband who'd suffered a stroke that left him

partially paralyzed. A man named

told me that he cares for his 10 year-old little boy

who was born with cerebral palsy. And there's a lady

named Sally who lived with her elderly

mother and father, both of whom are facing dementia.

After reading those E-mails, (and

others like them in the past), it dawned on me that

the world is filled with caregivers. And

let me ask, is there someone in your life you

take care of? If you are taking care of

someone, I admire and have so much respect for you.

More often that not, it's a tough job. But it's also

true that caring for someone makes that person feel

good while making the caregiver feel good, too. I

guess you could call it a two-way street.

Both my parents were caregivers. I'd often see them

doing nice things for others, it was just part of who

they were. And today, I try to carry on that very

needed tradition of my parents.

But may I tell you something? Sometimes, you can

care...too much. Oh now, wait. Don't raise

your eyebrows at me just yet. Let me explain. And

I'll do it by getting back to the people I talked

about in the beginning of this message. See, each of

the people I told you about, besides caring for family

members, were also very overweight. And they were all

writing for advice on what they should do to lose the

weight they so desperately need to lose.

What I found out from each of them

is this. They all spend a lot of time caring for

loved ones. But the flip side of the coin is that it

left little time for them to take care of themselves.

And when you have "no time" to take care of you, well,

you end up gaining weight and becoming unhealthy

yourself.

If, God forbid, something terrible happened that left

you unable to care for yourself...who would take care

of those you may now be caring for? For instance, if

Ann doesn't lose 150 pounds, someone's going to have

to take care of her husband...and her. If

continues to weigh over 300 pounds, who'll care

for him as he gains more weight? Who will

care for him and his daughter?

Like I said earlier, I salute all of you who

spend part of your lives being caregivers. But I'm

asking you to please make time to be sure you're also

taking good care of YOU. You just have to!

You must learn to balance things

this year...doing good for yourself, even as you do

good for others. See, by doing that, you'll be around

for a long, long time. You'll be here to take care of

those you love until that day arrives when some

wonderful person may have to take care of you.

And by the way, in my last two columns, I talked about

New Year's resolutions. And I hope you made your own

list of resolutions for 2011. You should add

balance to your list. If you didn't...add

it today. Find time to get your workouts in,

please...pretty please. Find time to plan

your meals, please...pretty please. And one

more thing, please say hello from me to anyone you may

be taking care of in your life.

Love,