The three ironies of life

There was a  Wellness summit sponsored by  People Management Association of the Philippines  held at the SMX Convention Center along Roxas Boulevard the other day and they made me deliver the keynote address. And so, I told them about the three ironies, call them paradoxes, if you will. The first irony is that when you are young, you have health  you have time but you do not have money. In middle age, you have money, you have health, but you do not have time. And when you grow old, you have time, you have money but you do not have good health.

When I said young, I mean being a teenager, a student, really carefree and without structured duties and obligations. Dependent on parents, happy-go-lucky, enjoying life and having a lot of times for going out, with a lot of real nice time with friends, classmates and peers, this stage in one's life is really swell. The only problem is that we are totally dependent on parents for financial support. We cannot move without gas for cars that we usually borrow. We cannot go on a date with our girlfriend without cash. We are in good health and have a lot of time to kill, but we do need cash. That is why our enjoyment at this stage is neither really total nor complete.

Upon reaching middle age, we still have good health and we now have money but we do not have time. We need to work very hard because by this time, we already have a growing family, young kids going to school and house rentals to worry about, facilities like electricity, water and telephone bills, credit cards and bills coming and have to be paid immediately. The money is there but not really enough and so, we need a second job, teaching at night, accepting invitations to conduct seminars on weekends, or even selling insurance policies or beauty products, or acting as part-time real estate broker. And so, we do not really enjoy totally our middle age.

When we get old and retired, we may have enough money and a lot of time but we do not have good health. We may have hypertension and have to take maintenance medicine all the time. We easily get tired and drowsy and get bored with the daily grind. We easily get sick and have to see the doctor who would charge exorbitant fees. We are also irritable and even cranky at times, and we easily get into trouble with family members, friends and neighbors. We easily get irritated by our spouse and then our health further deteriorates.

The paradox of life is that when we are young, we waste away our health in search of money. When we are old, we would give up all our money to regain our health. Life is crazy and so, while we can still enjoy it, let's all keep our cool and take it easy. We work hard but we should never neglect to take care of ourselves. For if we do not care for ourselves, who will?