Fourteen years ago my dad had a massive heart attack, the Widow Maker, at 50 years old. His dad had died of this same thing right after I was born so I never knew my grandpa and I was very aware of our family history of heart disease and addiction. Thankfully, my dad survived with the help of medicine and a healthy new diet and went from sedentary and overweight to a marathon running machine who had been given second chance at life.
With February being a month we focus on hearts and love, our kids in Jump for the Heart programming and races focusing on heart health, I look at this month differently after almost losing my father. I had to have a heart to heart conversation with myself in acknowledging family trees but not surrendering to fear of generational curses. Because once we know what we know we have to admit there are areas we cannot ignore but there are also areas where we can take control and change history for our children.
Now that I know we have heart disease in our family I don’t just worry about being thin or what the scale says. I’m more concerned with what is happening internally, the reasons why I eat the things I eat and what is happening in the unseen. Just like our physical bodies, it’s easy to bury addictions and anxiety and fear deep within where nobody can see the struggle when in reality we are slowly dying and nobody knows we’re crying out for help. Go to counseling, ask for wisdom from those who have walked a similar journey, call a friend for prayer. We can make small changes now that will impact our family for generations to come.
Unfortunately, many times people don’t make the changes that need to be made until after a near death experience but we’re not all given a second chance. In looking at our own spiritual lives, time with our kids, in our jobs, I don’t want to start truly living until I’ve come close to dying. I want to live to the fullest every single day, reverse the curses that I once feared walking prayerfully in faith and knowing I’m doing my part and helping others do the same.
February is a good month to have a heart to heart with ourselves and ask the hard questions. What are we afraid of? What are we holding back? What are changes that need to be made that we’re simply not making? How can we live healthy lives while also living to the fullest? How can we teach our children to do the same?
Let’s not wait to live. We don’t know what tomorrow brings but we can give it our all in the breath that we have today.
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