Wealth Bank Deposits

My father died about ten years ago. A few years before he died, when I think he was in his early 80's, he was checked into hospital for a blood clot. There were no records of him ever being in hospital. He said he had his appendix out in the 1930s at the same hospital, but that was his memory.

The operation was successful, and he cracked on for a few more years.

It's a blessing to come from good stock. My dad was the only child of a WW1 vet, and he learned to work hard at an early age. My mum comes from tough North English and troublesome Irish stock. They were tough people and cleared a lot of land in the early days of New Zealand.

My mum lived well into her nineties.

So, as a 68-year-old, I am making the changes they made as they got older. My grandfather and my father made me work hard. School holidays were a thing of the past when I reached ten years old, working at the back of butcher shops or in a small factory packing meat, but it was OK. I did get paid.

They were generations that ate meat and drank beer – lots of it didn't seem to harm them much, but the counterweight was physical work. Meat eating was matched with the amount of dripping that was used to cook it with lots of potatoes and a few green vegetables – overcooked and really just for tokenism.

While I love or did love physical work, my work life has for the last 29 years included long hours in front of the computer; it did include being on a plane once or twice a week, and it still provides plenty of stress, especially when I am running a big project. So, in ways, I have been "spending" my genetic blessing.

Dad wasn't much of a business mentor. He worked hard, and many around him ripped him off and abused his generosity. But there are lots of great "nuggets" that I have learnt – and one of them was that he said you have a wealth bank, and you have a health bank, and both need constant deposits.

Regarding my health bank, I have been mostly withdrawing all my life.

I have worked hard under a lot of stress (which controlled is not too bad), spent most of the last 29 years being exhausted, I have “parked” things I needed to do regarding my mental health (box away the issues, keep the black dog in the kennel), and do I love to drink – hell yeh!

The biggest shake-up came when I saw my doctor, a young guy at Whitsunday Medical Centre. I make appointments and go into chat because now I am making time to think and then act about my health.

I said to him I recon I may live for 15 more years – "That should do it", and he said – "so how do you want that to look like?" I did just that I imagined how that could look. I imagined what it would be like to have my health go downhill and be that grumpy, can't walk an incontinent guy in room 264 – who no one remembers.

I needed to make some changes. I jokingly said, "euthanasia is legal in this state", and he said, "Do you want to make an appointment?".

The following is about the starts to deposits in my health bank.

1)??? I quit drinking – well, almost; I may have a drink, say a chardonnay every 3rd week. It was easy. No cravings, nothing. I just had to get into the habit of saying no. I have soda or cordial when friends drink, and we chat just fine. It's made a big difference to how I feel, the quality of my sleep, and my focus. That was easy.

2)??? I changed my diet, and it has all I love: meat, vegetables, salad, and repeat. I may have roast pork, rump steak or a plate full of Brussels sprouts with olive oil and white balsamic for breakfast. Avoid bread (that's hard) and sweet things. I was never a fan of desserts and hate chocolate. I dropped about 6kg and am slowly losing weight after the initial rush. If I am hungry, I'll grill a chop for a snack.

3)??? Exercise is currently in the garden; I like to walk, but guess how hot and what is the humidity in Airlie Beach today?

4)??? Mental health – I must deal with a pile of stuff. I still have nightmares about my business collapse in 1995 (keep parking that one), and I am aware of stuff I would like to sort out with my family; I was away, worked hard, and "did all the dumb things". But regarding mental health, I have a few things that help.

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a)???? I talk to strangers, anyone. From 3 generations of butchers, butchers like to talk the leg of a chair, so I stop and speak to strangers, talk a lot with friends, colleagues, and clients, and I believe just that helps so much.

b)??? I recognise when the black dog is around, and then I can keep him in the kennel. I know this fog will pass – it always does. (I have always rejected any prescriptions.)

c)???? I don't glide the lily when it comes to clients. Too much mental energy is working out how to give bad news softly. I get things out and don't "take them home" to speak. It works anyway because we can cut to the chase about a plan for them.

d)??? I read books about one a week: not business books, but great novels and new work. I also listen to audio and enjoy reading long stories.

One of the great things I have for my health is a wife who wants me to be healthy. Always telling me about Chinese medicine, habits, foods we should eat and something important for my health, I am happy overall.

I have a lot of deposits to make into my wealth bank. Don't know if I will catch up on all the withdrawals, but, hey, it should make the coming years have so much more joy and pleasure in it.