Are You Taking Responsibility for Your Health?

Most people say their health is one of their highest priorities. Yet too often, we don’t give it serious attention until something goes wrong.

I learned that lesson personally many years ago.

Back in the 1980s, I was struggling with low energy and feeling depressed. I went to my doctor, who diagnosed the problem as depression and prescribed lithium. But something didn’t seem right.

A friend who knew me well challenged that diagnosis. She said, “Ken, I’m not convinced you’re depressed. I think there may be something physical going on.”

At my own insistence, I pursued a glucose tolerance test. The results showed that I was extremely hypoglycemic. My blood-sugar levels were contributing significantly to how I was feeling.

At the time, I was consuming far too much sugar, including Coke. Once I understood what was happening, I changed my diet and eliminated much of the sugar. I had also stopped taking the lithium very quickly because of the negative effects I was experiencing.

That experience helped shape one of my strongest beliefs about wellness:

If you don’t take responsibility for your health, nobody else will.

Don’t Automatically Accept the First Answer

I respect the role health professionals can play, but I don’t believe we should blindly outsource our health to the medical system.

My own experience is a perfect example. My doctor treated the symptoms as a mental-health issue without identifying the blood-sugar problem underneath them. I had to keep asking questions and pursue additional testing myself.

Conventional medicine can be extremely effective in certain areas, particularly acute and emergency care. But treating symptoms isn’t always the same as identifying why those symptoms are occurring.

That’s why I’ve become passionate about understanding nutrition, wellness, prevention and the factors that contribute to our health over the long term.

You live in your body every day. Pay attention to it. Ask questions. Do your own research. Seek different perspectives when appropriate and don’t assume that because someone has professional credentials, you should stop thinking for yourself.

What Is Your Health Worth?

I learned the same lesson again with my back.

When I was about 15 or 16, I injured it lifting a heavy object on our family farm. The problem followed me for years. Later, extensive travel and a demanding schedule contributed to me gaining approximately 25 to 30 pounds, which certainly didn’t help.

Eventually, I was in lower-back pain perhaps 95% of the time. Bending over was difficult. Picking things up was difficult. Even playing with my children became challenging.

Through a friend, I learned about spinal decompression therapy. In 2006, I decided to investigate it and committed to several months of intensive treatments.

It required time, money and discipline.

But I had to ask myself: What is my health worth?

The results for me were remarkable. I went from being in pain approximately 95% of the time to being roughly 90–95% pain-free.

Again, I could have simply accepted my condition. Instead, I searched for another option and invested in improving my health.

It’s Not Just About Living Longer

I’m thinking about this even more as I get older.

My mother-in-law is now 96 and living in residential care. Watching her and others around her has reinforced something for me: living longer and living well are not necessarily the same thing.

When mobility disappears, independence often follows. Your world can become smaller and smaller until you’re no longer really participating in life the way you once did.

It’s difficult to watch, and it has caused me to think seriously about what I want my own later years to look like.

I don’t simply want more years. I want to be able to move, think, contribute, travel, enjoy my family and remain engaged in life for as long as possible.

I want both quantity and quality.

That’s what wellness should be about.

Your Health Is the Sum of Your Choices

Most health decline doesn’t happen overnight. Our choices accumulate over years.

Nutrition matters. Weight matters. Movement matters. Sleep matters. Stress matters. Relationships matter. The work we do and how we feel about it matters.

They’re interconnected.

That’s why at CRG we’ve always approached wellness from a whole-person perspective.

Our Stress Indicator & Health Planner (SIHP) includes 120 questions that examine five interconnected dimensions: Personal Distress, Interpersonal Stress, Wellness, Time Stress and Occupational Stress.

The purpose isn’t simply to tell you you’re stressed. Most people already know that.

The real value is identifying where your stress and wellness challenges are coming from and what you’re going to do about them.

Our Dying to Live eCourse takes the process further by helping you understand those results and create practical strategies for improving your overall health and wellness.

Stop Waiting for a Wake-Up Call

Too many people wait until something goes seriously wrong before taking their health seriously.

Don’t wait.

Ask yourself two questions:

Where is my health today?

And perhaps more importantly:

Where will my current habits take me ten or twenty years from now if nothing changes?

Maybe you need to lose weight, move more, reduce sugar, improve your sleep, address chronic stress or make changes in another area of your life.

You don’t have to change everything tomorrow.

But you do need to start taking responsibility today.

Dr. Ken’s Leadership Insight

Your health isn’t simply about adding years to your life. It’s about adding life to your years. Don’t wait until poor health takes away your choices before deciding your wellness matters. Take responsibility for what you can influence today so you have the greatest opportunity to live fully tomorrow.

That’s ultimately why we called our wellness program Dying to Live.

I don’t want you simply existing at the end of your life. I want you living fully—with energy, mobility, purpose, meaningful relationships and the ability to enjoy the life you’ve worked so hard to build.

If you’re uncertain where to begin, the Stress Indicator & Health Planner can help you identify your current stress and wellness levels, while Dying to Live provides a practical framework for turning that awareness into action.

Your health isn’t somebody else’s responsibility.

It’s yours.

And few investments you will ever make will matter more.