Road trips are crazy. Take for example this one.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist. (Didn’t click the link? Go back and please do so… you’ll be a changed person.)
I’m not completely sure whether I like road trips or whether I just like the idea of road trips.
Susan and I often take road trips from Idaho, down through Utah, over into Arizona and finally through Nevada to California. We take turns driving, changing seats when we fill up the gas, as it hits half-full. It’s a routine that we’ve accomplished approximately 3-4 times a year for 33 years. (Man, that’s over a hundred+ road trips at 2,082 miles per round trip! In terms of time, each round trip ends up being around 32 hours! That’s 68,000 miles accomplished over 1,046 hours in our cars, over 396 months…wow!) Somehow, the idea of a road trip DOES seem a lot more exciting than the actual grinding it takes to travel those roads. Ha!
Yep, we’re vacation road warriors!
Now, use it as a metaphor in our lives. When you and I consider the EVEN longer road trips of life – you know what I mean - the unpredictable personal trips that scream across life’s hot asphalt at unacceptable (and certainly unsafe) speeds, the sheer importance towers over us. Medicine, career, health, finances, on and on… the term “road trip” does indeed take on a whole new meaning.
The twists and turns of our lives, along with the hills and valleys, narrow lanes and road construction combine to create even more problems for you, your family and your friends.
Yet, both types of road trips have three things in common:
- Planned spontaneity
- Needed chaotic interruptions
- Fast speeds and faster stops (followed by jerky swerves, u-turns, and unplanned turns of life that should have been 180 degrees out.)d
Planned spontaneity
In Season 1, Episode 1 of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld travel together in what clearly is a spontaneous series of events and conversations. The television industry demands a start point, a middle and a conclusion to every television show that has ever been produced. Seinfeld’s show is no different. Under all the spontaneity exists a planned script.
Planned spontaneity is vital to road trips. Why? Ultimately road trips are about EVERYTHING in life!
Recently, Susan and I were on our way to a board retreat on Catalina Island, just off the coast of LA. We drove all the way to California, in a time crunch. Unfortunately, weather changed our plans and we were unable to get to the island. I could have been upset and my attitude could have ruined time with my wife, friends and family. However, instead of meeting for three days, we met for an abbreviated session of one day on the mainland. This opened up two spontaneous days with my granddaughters, who I see only a handful of times a year. We talked and laughed and bonded. It was a more-than-fortunate opportunity for a grandfather and his lovely little grand kiddos. Planned spontaneity paid off!
What in your life involves spontaneous fun and road-warrior moments? Email me and let me know about yours.
Always remember…
“Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more.” - Henri-Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher
Needed Chaos: Improvise, adapt, and overcome
Now shift to medicine.
A patient:
“Paul Borgman was diagnosed with truncus arteriosus at birth and has had three open heart surgeries and various other smaller procedures in his journey as a patient. He suffered a stroke during his third open heart procedure, but worked hard to achieve a full recovery and is now an avid obstacle course racer.
He is in his last semester of college and hopes to pursue a career in the medical field after graduation, owing his desire to work in the field to the extraordinary care he received as a truncus arteriosus patient throughout his life. When he is not studying or conducting research in biochemistry, he loves to go to the gym, run, and train for Spartan races with his teammates he lovingly calls ‘The Crazies.’”
This young man HAD to improvise, adapt and overcome, just to stay alive. The chaos of his heart condition demanded he either move forward or die. Check out this blog post Paul wrote about his experiences.
A doctor:
Chaos and misunderstanding were rampant in 1967 when Dr. Christiaan Barnard pioneered cardiac care and heart transplants.
“Dr. Christiaan Barnard's contributions to the field of cardiac surgery and transplantation cannot be overstated. He brought hope to millions of patients suffering from heart disease, revolutionized medical practices, and inspired countless future surgeons and researchers. His legacy lives on through the countless lives he saved and the advancements he made in the field of cardiac surgery, making him a true pioneer and a global icon in medical history.”
Imagine life without his effort; trial and error (or chaos) brought about the road to success in cardiac surgery. From one pioneer surgeon in 1967 to 12,800 adult cardiac surgeons and 3,858 pediatric cardiac surgeons in the world today, success is now a daily occurrence.
Fast speeds, faster stops
The eight most difficult motor sport roadway speed races on the globe are The Dakar Rally, Isle of Man TT, The Baja 1000, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, The Erzberg Rodeo, Nürburgring 24 Hours and The Rainforest Challenge.
Many, many people have died on these roadways over the last 75 years.
Speed didn’t kill them; stopping did. This is where the jerky swerves, u-turns and the unplanned interruptions of life bend their arc toward the horizon of mortality. The results can be tragic.
In my own case, my personal body speed is fast - I burn hot, my blood pressure has been high, my heart seemed to be in tandem with my speed… at least I thought it did. Something changed.
I came face to face with my own mortality and wrote about that in a previous newsletter.
What did I discover?
Speeding REALLY doesn’t kill a person, stopping fast does. This brings us to the reality of certain things in our lives that, without notice, can take us out, WAY before our lives would end, naturally.
For me it was my heart. For you it may be something else.
Consider having your health checked this year. No matter your age, health conditions can (and I would argue WILL) eventually come knocking at the door of your life.
(After all, the probability of dying is 100%…you just don’t want your “fast stop” to happen now.)
The question is therefore this: Have you “checked under the hood? Had the tires checked? Checked up on the electrical?”
I did. And the results shocked me.
My most recent check-up showed that this year is the year I’ll be having open-heart surgery in the autumn. For those interested in what they’ll be doing, feel free to click here.
I’ve changed my diet to plant-based, lost 36 pounds (so far), have completed 30 cardio rehab workouts (so far) and finished 3 individual classes on heart care.
The foundations of my continued increase of my healthcare is three-tiered: I lowered my salt intake, decreased my sugar consumption and increased my plant-based eating each day. My story is being unveiled, even as I write this newsletter.
Your story may be happening now, even as you read this newsletter. Your “fast speed” of eating, drinking, salt and sugar consumption may be accelerating your life to an unanticipated crash-course collision that “abruptly stops you” by killing you, no matter how much you intended to “apply the brakes” in your lifestyle choices.
Go ahead visit your doctor, get an exam, have tests run. This could reveal something imperative to take charge of…even if you don’t feel bad (l didn’t). Seek specialists and several opinions IF something does ultimately look as though you need to seek surgical or medical help. Don’t have a “fast stop” to your life. So many medical conditions can be avoided with early intervention.
Remember to plan for spontaneity, to realize that chaotic interruptions are often needed and that fast speeds are a part of life AND THAT faster stops don’t need to be a part of your death.
Robert Frost’s famous poem, “The Road Less Traveled”, put it this way:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Your road trip is right in front of you; you simply need to grab the steering wheel and take charge.
More to come,
Den
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If you (or the ones you love) DO eventually need world class care or surgery for cancer, cardiac care or any other major health scare you may face, please visit the following:
- Cedars Sinai Hospital
- The Mayo Clinic
- For those who live in Idaho and are facing a health scare that involves cardiac care, consider Dr. Robert Farivar, St. Alphonsus Hospital, Boise, ID. We chose him to do my heart procedure, due to the thousands of operations he has successfully done, as well as his practice being so close to our home in the Boise area for my recovery concerns.