I don´t know if this happens to you, but I am the kind of guy who always goes to bed regretting something. Regretting that I did not do a good job with my diet. Regretting that I did not find 10 minutes to meditate or to go out and take 10,000 steps. Regretting a thousand things. And then I am also the guy who promises himself that things will be better the next day. That I will say no to that cookie. That I will work out a little bit. And on and on and on.
Yesterday, I even wrote down my schedule for when I was going to work out. It was supposed to be today, right before my first lesson. It was not just wishful thinking. It was there on paper like the rest of my lessons.
Sadly, I failed miserably. I stood myself up. I stayed in bed. Something I would never ever do if I had to teach you. Or if I was going to meet you just to have a coffee. If I tell you I am going to be there, you can bet I am going to be there.
I wish we could treat ourselves the way we treat others.
As some of you already know, my dad is sick. The doctors detected cancer last year. They were able to remove it. But he's had a lot of infections since surgery, and his kidney function has been going down ever since. 10 days ago, things got pretty ugly and his health took a major hit.
Thank goodness, doctors did an emergency procedure to start with dialysis immediately. He is still very weak but we can see some light at the end of the tunnel once again. A lot of light actually! We are extremely happy and grateful. However, it is definitely not something you want to do if you can avoid it. It is uncomfortable and incredibly time-consuming.
My dad is not a candidate for a kidney transplant. This means that he will have to spend the rest of his life depending on that machine.
Those who are candidates to receive a kidney have to wait. There are not enough donors out there and not all kidneys are compatible. For most, this means lots of years of excruciating waiting, going through dialysis, and not knowing if they are going to make it.
If you are lucky enough and you find the right donor and have a successful transplant, you still have to overcome one major problem. Your immune system will automatically detect an organ from another person in your body and will immediately try to destroy it. To stop this from happening, you need to take anti-rejection drugs. These drugs weaken your immune system and you are more susceptible to infections and suffering. But it is a risk worth taking since you need that kidney to survive.
Patients still often suffer the devastating effects of organ rejection. But this is not because the drugs they were prescribed to take failed. Incredibly, way too often it is because the patients simply failed to take their drugs.
According to recent studies, on average, one-third of general patients (for any kind of illness) will not fill the prescription. Of the remaining two-thirds, 67% will not take the medicine correctly. They will miss doses they will quit taking the medicine too early or they will not take it at all.
But this is when things get really crazy. Studies show that people are way more likely to give a medicine that has been prescribed to their dogs by a vet than a medicine that a doctor has prescribed for them.
Why we treat ourselves so poorly is something that amazes me. What would happen if you kept letting down your boss, your clients, your family members, and your friends the way you let yourself down?
This is my advice for you today. Be aware of the problem. I can't tell you a lot more because I am still trying to figure it out myself. But be aware. And know that if you can keep your own commitments to study a little bit of Spanish here and there the same way you keep your commitments with everybody else, there is a good chance your Spanish will be on a whole different level before you know it. Trust me. You deserve it. Just treat yourself the way you treat others.