On Choice

I am interested in choice: the way we humans choose what to do, what to think, what to like or feel…  One definition of sanity is the ability to choose right from wrong.  The laws of the land are there to guide our actions, but thoughts and feelings seem more complicated.  Are we truly free to choose what we think, and how we feel?  Or are we enslaved by cultural norms, our upbringing and education, our pursuit of the immediate pleasure, and the constant temptation to blame someone (or something) else, when things go wrong? 

I find, as someone seeking to be the ‘responsible patient’ in old age that my life improves the more I avoid the easy option of blaming anyone or anything else than myself for my ills.  Of course, the ‘easy option’ has attractions: it lets you off the hook, makes you the victim of misfortune, and elicits sympathy (‘poor you!’).  Victimhood is a pandemic: I call it victimitis, because so much of so-called health-care is a conspiracy of medical practitioners and patients to avoid confronting the truth about responsibility, especially for our healthy longevity.

The truth is that, if you want to live to a ripe old age in good-enough health, it’s down to you to choose a positive mind-set and a healthy lifestyle.  Avoid stress, be cheerful, love your family and friends, take regular exercise, and eat a vegan-ish diet.  The rest is detail.  Why not try it?  I do, and it’s working for me.  And recent research reports confirm that it is best practice – and a good choice.  But, if you prefer the allures of victimhood, don’t read this Newsletter!