The WEGOHEALTH Activist 30 Day Writing Challenge Day 16 

“Wisdom Wednesday: What advice do you have for
health activists just starting out? Share your words
of wisdom for all the health activist rookies out
there!”
 

Okay, here’s my opinion. Warning: it may not be popular, but it works for me. 

Wisdom is a relative thing. There’s man-made wisdom and Godly wisdom. Man-made wisdom would be becoming an expert on something man-made, like, say for instance, automobiles. There’s nothing at all wrong with that unless you know more about cars then you know about Godly wisdom. 

Whenever it was that I needed to make a decision and chose man-made wisdom, or worse, no wisdom, instead of using Godly wisdom, it didn’t work out as well as it would have if I had taken the time to search my knowledge of the scriptures about what to do. 

I’ll give an example that applies to this subject of being a Health Advocate. When I became my mother’s caregiver and advocate, I put her and everything related to her first in my life, because I felt that it was my God-given responsibility to do so. And it is. It’s mentioned three times in the Bible to honor your father and mother. (Deut. 15:16, Exodus 20:12 and Matthew 19:19 which reads; ” Honor your father and mother and your neighbor as yourself.”  So a person who loves their parents and their neighbor ( which is everyone) is supposed to love and care for their own self. Jesus said the greatest command was that, ” You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this: You must love your neighbor as yourself.”  ( Matthew 22:37-39) Did you catch the last word? What does it say? Yourself. If you don’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else in the best way possible? You can’t. 

In my case, because of the circumstances of my mother’s health condition, I was required to be with her, do for her, protect and provide for her in the way that made her feel safe. I followed the doctors orders, and tried to fulfill my mother’s every wish, even if it was not in my best interests. That was because she was my mother and I love her. 

There’s nothing wrong with loving the person you are an advocate for and trying to satisfy their wishes, but there is something wrong when you find yourself getting sick, tired and exhausted. 

Unfortunately, this happens to a lot of caregivers, advocates or anyone who is passionate about the life of one or many. 

You lose yourself in the cause. 

But based on Godly wisdom,  ” Many hands make the load light.” So, having others to support you is vital. If you find that you have no choice than to go it alone, for whatever reason, get yourself a caregiver. That means the following : 

Hire an assistant.  

Keep your doctor appointments. 

Get a massage once a week.

Go to a support group. 

Talk to someone who can help you that your struggles. 

Get proper rest and follow a healthy diet. 

Learn to say ” No.” 

Do your best and then don’t feel guilty about what was not done. 

After a year of taking care of my mother, my health really suffered. It suffered because I followed some Godly wisdom, but not all. I stopped loving myself. I didn’t even realize that I was doing it because I was so focused on my responsibilities. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter if it’s one person or thousands of people that you’re advocating for, if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of them. 

That’s the simple truth. And yet, we humans fail at this truth everyday. But meditate in this; If everyone was taking proper care of themselves, the stress load would be a lot lighter on everyone. 

So if you want to be successful, take care of yourself. That’s my advice. ❤️