Valuable Lessons About Living

Heart failure, and those who suffer from it, have taught me so much over the years. We have heart failure in our family and I have watched people suffer and manage this at varying stages.

These are the most important lessons I have learned along the way about living. These are things that I may have learned later on in life from others and other situations. However, these are lessons I dealt with early in life, and was able to adapt to my world and really take them to heart.

Lessons I have learned from those I love who have heart failure

Love

Love is a powerful tool, loving your people is as important as allowing other people to love you. Love is something that you show through actions and words and in a variety of ways. Hold space for the people you love and if there is nothing you can do to help them in the darkness that they are going through, you can just sit with them in the dark. Love your family and show them that you love them, love yourself, and show yourself that you do.

Look after your health

By this, I do not mean go overboard, but look after your health. Eat healthy food, and more fresh food than junk. Eat fresh vegetables and fruit and make the smaller part of your diet refined products that are heavy in fats and the like.

Go for walks and workout, spend time in nature, replenish your body and soul with hikes in nature, and never take a single day for granted. 

Look after your mental health, journal, read books, and make the most of the time and good health that you have. Things can change in a heartbeat.

Moderation

Everything in moderation, even moderation. Keeping the balance is key to most things in life and it is something I learned from someone very dear to me who passed from heart failure after living with it for many years. Workout in moderation, and eat well but in moderation.

Finding balance has helped me find peace and not live a very stressful life. Work in moderation, there is more to life than working. It is important to get the balance between work and everything else as right as you can for your own life.

Go for your checkups

Keep on top of your health check-ups and go for your annual checkups. Get your blood work done when you need it, visit the specialist, and check your health. This has become an annual thing for me. Prevention and early detection can change the way you deal with anything that comes your way.

I go for the full rigmarole every year. I test blood counts, and go for yearly pap smears, mammograms, etc. Getting my heart tested is part of my new testing regime this year. I would like to stay on top of it, and should there be any concerns, be able to catch them early and start treating them as soon as possible.

Kindness and compassion

Kindness brings about kindness. The more kindness we put out into the world the more we get in return. We never know what other people are going through. There are so many people who walk among us with silent diseases and battles that we know nothing about.

My first port of call is kindness when I meet new people and when I come across people I already know. I try and make sure I lead with kindness and compassion. Having people around me, since I was little, who look well on the outside but are fighting a daily heart failure battle has shown me the importance of this time and time again.

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