What Your Grandma Wishes She’d Known: Reactive vs. Proactive Health

We grow up, get married, raise a family, work hard, and save for retirement. Retirement is supposed to be a time of travel, spending time with family, enjoying hobbies, and getting to indulge in the freedoms of your time being your own.

One big thing many people neglect to plan for is what their health might look like in retirement. We plan financially for this time, and yet many of us avoid our health, hoping that it will be there when it is finally time to relax and slow down. The harsh reality for those who have avoided and put off their health for all those years is that they will be forced to slow down and deal with their health in their golden years. 

Many go about their lives reacting to problems rather than working proactively to prevent unwanted situations. Health is definitely not an exception to this.

So, the first question to ask yourself is, what do you want retirement to look like? Playing with grandkids? Hitting the golf course? Traveling? The next question: how do these activities look if you cannot get down on the floor with little ones, you’re too sore to swing a club, and your health expenses, such as surgery and medication, are eating into your travel budget? Then what? How does that impact all you have worked towards?

Unfortunately, this is a reality for too many people in our office. Health is not stagnant. We all make daily choices that either benefit or jeopardize our health. We can either choose now to invest in our future health or be forced later in life to try to regain the health we have lost.

Health is something many of us take for granted until we lose it. We live our lives like we are invincible. “I feel good now, I don’t have any blaring health concerns at this moment.”

We assume that since we are not on medications now, it will be that way in the future. Of course, none of us can avoid every ailment, sickness, ache, and pain. However, what we do now to benefit our health will give us the best shot at good health in the future. Don’t take a chance on your health. Make the investment today; your future self will thank you.