Before I start, let me correct an error in my last column, where I stated that it was 275th. No, it was the 475th.
Then, I want to pay celebrate Sunny Bindra, who at the end of last month informed us in his Sunday Nation column which had been running weekly for over two decades that this one, his 1,146th, was to be his last. What an achievement, Sunny, and what great articles.
Now to today’s. We are all so busy going about our daily responsibilities, and then one day a health issue hits us, putting us completely out of action. Our world is turned upside down as we must interrupt ongoing obligations and take on no new ones.
What a mindset shift that requires, one for which we are quite unprepared but where we are faced with no choice. It has happened to me from time to time over the last couple of decades, including in the pre-vaccine days of Covid, when I was hospitalised for eight weeks and almost faded out completely.
I learnt so much about my inner self in those days, contemplating my total inactivity as I worked to keep up with the essentials of life – the sleeping and breathing, the eating and washing… was there anything else? My appetite was so low, but I forced myself to imbibe adequately; I tried hard to carry out basic exercise and I reached out to engage with the staff at the hospital.
I wrote about it at the time, focusing on what I learnt was my “conscious discipline”, where I knew what I needed to do to overcome my zero-energy inertia, so as to get back on the path to recovery and action. Happily it happened, and to my delight I managed to resume my active life.
Recently I was captured by another health issue that laid my energy flat, and so I have again been reflecting on how I have been dealing with it and how that in turn may help readers here who are also having to face such performance-halting setbacks.
It’s that very low-energy level which is so frustrating, preventing one from concentrating on whatever one had been doing. It’s even hard to read for more than a little while, and watching the news about Trump and his tariffs certainly won’t fill the gap.
The natural state for me at these times has been to just be, to do nothing. Just to breath, to sit or to lie down, and to hope that after a while I’ll find if not the energy, then at least a way to defy its absence and do something – like write an article such as this on my laptop.
I challenge and defy my apathy, knowing that even in my lowest of conditions, I still want to be and am active in my mind and to share what I am going through.
I can be at my desk for not too long, but leave it feeling I have not completely wasted my day with nothing to say about it other than that I made it through to the evening.
I have evidence of initiative, feeling proud that I have exceeded any reasonable expectation of accomplishment.
Having said that, it is equally important to simply accept what is absolutely not possible at such times, and to be calm and patient about the path to recovery and reactivation. I know I cannot rush, and so saying “No” is an everyday mantra.
Happily, everyone around me easily understands this necessity, and I have been so appreciative of all the good wishes being offered to me. “Maybe later in May,” we say to each other, as we hope for an adequate Eldon by then.
So as I open up about all this to you, if you are experiencing some significant health issues or if someone you know is, I urge you to be very realistic and practical about it all. Be empathetic and compassionate to yourself, accepting fully the vulnerability it’s OK to display.
Somehow find the strength to go beyond what could normally be expected to be possible, defying flatness and breathlessness. Pick small acts that are just about possible to undertake, however brief, and then feel good about the micro-achievement.
Another aspect of the normal me that I somehow never lose, however weak I may feel, is my sense of humour. It’s something that lives deep within me, mixed around with an intrinsic cheerfulness. What I have found is that even at the hardest of times – whether to do with health issues or in work-related or other crises – such a spirit nicely dilutes the negatives and helps me and others on our way.
Please reflect on you and your health. Appreciate it while it’s in good shape, and if it is not apply a healthy mindset to its hopeful restoration.
The writer is chairman of management consultancy The DEPOT, co-founder of the International Responsible Leadership organisation and member of the Kepsa Advisory Council. Email: [email protected] | www.mike-eldon.com
