“I will die for you”… so goes one of the most heroic and romantic lines we can say to our loved ones. Under extraordinary circumstances where we are asked to offer our lives to save people we love, I will probably say the same thing. But for everyday life, I’d rather say “I will live for you”. This line acknowledges our responsibility to take care of our health to be of better service to our loved ones because health is a personal responsibility.

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Self-Care=Selfishness?

Many people have the thinking that self-care is equivalent to selfishness. Unless of course self-care would mean granting unnecessary pampering to one’s self at the expense of well-being of family members, nothing can be farther from the truth. It is often said that we have to take care of ourselves or else we will have nothing else to give to others. The healthier we are, the more we are able to perform our responsibilities.

Health Maintenance as a Personal Responsibility

Leaving one’s health to chance is the greatest disservice one can do for one’s self and his loved ones. I cannot emphasize this enough. Health is a personal responsibility. A person has to proactively take measures that will prevent sickness and related complications from affecting him. No one else knows what his body is going through. The body will give signs and it cannot be ignored.

Signing Own Death Warrant

There are many ways that people are actually signing their own death warrant including:

  1. Not having regular medical check-ups
  2. Ignoring signs and symptoms
  3. Not taking prescribed medications as directed
  4. Refusing to take preventive measures such as lifestyle modifications or preventive surgery (after careful evaluation)
  5. Reckless dismissal of health bulletins and directives about outbreaks and similar occurrences

Being personally responsible for one’s health means finding ways to address limitations. There will always be reasons such as finances, work environment, lack of time, and many others. In the same breathe, there will always be ways if one is truly intent on staying healthy.

Preventive Measures as the Key to Staying Healthy

Many who are facing preventable grave diseases now can attest to the importance of taking immediate action when it was still workable. The amount of money that is needed to have a physical check-up pales in comparison to the gargantuan bills when being treated for terminal illness. The amount of time spent to have standard laboratory procedures performed is nothing to the months or years of having to go back and forth for painful tests. The inconvenience of changing jobs or modifying lifestyle would appear effortless compared to having one’s life put on hold by sickness. When it comes to health, prevention is always better than cure.

My Say

It is my personal view that even before we offer our lives for our loved ones, we must be responsible enough to take care of it. I’m sure our loved ones will be much happier to have us around, healthy and creating treasured moments with them. No one should irresponsibly and knowingly throw health cares away. Doing so would only lead to immeasurable grief to the very people we vowed to make happy.

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So that is why I will not die for my loved ones, at least not until extraordinary circumstances ask for it. I choose to live for them and be with them as long as I can possibly can by proactively taking care of my health. Health is a personal responsibility. Make no mistake about that. We owe that much to our loved ones.