Iowa Specialty Hospital

A Message from the CEO - March 2024

March 18, 2024

I used to get so mad at the “biking bridge dwellers” - they’d stand on the bridge in Water Works Park and drink a beer.  I would yell in my head and feign anger because they were taking up space.  They were having fun.  I was jealous, I think.  They weren’t harming anyone … I just wanted to be part of it. (This is me last Saturday.  I had fun on the bridge drinking a beer with an awesome group of people.) 

Over the last year – I woke up to the fact that I was missing out on life. I was watching others have fun and live adventurous and fun lives … but kept wondering, “How do I get some of that?”  I talked to someone a year ago November asking “how” – she said, "Just do it; there is stuff whenever, wherever.  Don’t wait for an invitation."  So I didn’t, and life changed.  I said yes a lot, and when an invite didn’t come - I went anyway.*

When you take the steering wheel (control) of your own life – be it health, activities, job, or life in general and don’t wait for the invitation (because it probably won’t come) -- your life will be better.

From a health and wellness perspective (and everything comes back to health and wellness - because if you are stressed and unhappy, your health will suffer), if you want something, start today.  I was thinking out loud to a friend last fall about how I (potentially) wanted to get back into running.  He said, “Let’s sign up for a 5K in the spring”.  I said yes (I didn’t think he was serious), and his wife told me last week that he is training like mad and looking forward to the run.  Erg.  Awesome. 

March is my favorite month.  The longer nights, the promise of spring, and everything is laid out and ready to grab hold of.  I find myself smiling a lot and looking forward.  Embrace opportunities … say yes … make plans and just do them -- because the invitations might not come. 

Carpe diem.

 

 

*Not closed things like weddings and dinner parties; that'd be sketchy and weird. Events that are open - like concerts, bike rides and normal stuff.

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