You Can't Hustle Health

Ford attended the hospital Wednesday after complaining of abdominal pain that had persisted for "at least three months" but got worse in the past 24 hours, Dr. Rueben Devlin said.

First and foremost - I hope Rob Ford and his family have nothing significant to worry about and that a speedy recovery is possible.  Should surgery be required, I would beg the Mayor to do what's in his and his family's best interests and rest.

I say this, full-well knowing I'm a hypocrite.  I recently tore a ligament in my ankle; picture a searing pain and the sound of ripping pomello, and that's what it was like.  That was about two weeks ago; it took me days to get to a Walk-In clinic to have it checked out.  4 hours later, I had a diagnosis and a recommendation to Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate.

I've done a bit of the second two and none of the first.  Frankly, I don't have the time to rest, or be immobile; I'm an entrepreneur, a parent of two and have community commitments.  I don't have time to rest.

The same thought process, I would wager, runs through Rob Ford's mind - rest when you win, everything else comes second.  A race is a race, after all - you can't win if you step off the track.  Having been off the track for a while over the summer, it's a testament to how uncomfortable he must be that he's gone to the hopsital.

Neither of us are unique stories.  We hear the same thing all the time - hunt what you kill, no rest for the wicked, sleep when you're dead, get ahead.  The body is a tool that helps us accomplish, with the accomplishment being more important than the body.

How many employers will push their staff beyond their body's limits, both phsyical and psychological, to deliver?  How many employers do the same to themselves?

Part of the reason healthcare costs are so expensive comes from the fact that they are reactive; cardiac care, mental health care, the big-ticket items are all related to treating conditions that, by and large, are preventable - if we take the time to take care of ourselves.

Which we don't.

It's not our bodies, nor people in general that are the problem in our current economic system that pushes everyone beyond their limits - it's the dependence on limitless growth that is pushing us beyond our physical capacities.

We're relying more and more on substances ranging from Advil to Xanax to crack to help us get through our days; we increasingly need new tools to help us do the same work even faster.  

It's not sustainable.

If society is a body, we are taxing it to the breaking point.  It's not sustainable.

Rob Ford has proven to be something of a bell weather for society.  I truly hope he recovers and has some much-needed opportunity to recover.  

I wish the same for us all.