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Healthy Horizons

Laurie Lupold

I had something totally different planned for this month’s Healthy Horizons but unfortunately I lost it in my computer somewhere. It has definitely been a tough month but things are looking up. I’m finally going to see my doctor tomorrow and I will be going back on my medications. Faith holds true. I made it through this lengthy crisis in my life.

I have just one comment I want to make pertaining to this subject and then I will go on with my column. People with bipolar and other types of mental disorders come to points in their lives where they feel above the medication. In my case, it wasn’t so much I felt I was above it, I just reached a low point in my life where I simply didn’t care. Well, from my experience, often taking yourself off medications sets you up for a major fall. Please before you decide to do anything so drastic, talk to your doctor and really listen to what he or she has to say. Don’t make hasty decisions that, in the end, you’ll regret. With that said I’d like to move on to the essence of my column for the month.

January brings new beginnings and closures to a year that might have been the best or worst we could’ve imagined. My thoughts this month don’t really cover the writing experience but they do have a lot to do with character. When I think of the year gone by, one of the things that had the most effect on my life was the political charade of the year.

I must say, with the circus of stars captured in the political outfield, I for one am very concerned for our future. We went from a bored political forum which had nothing better to do with its time than to display an outpour of information regarding someone’s distasteful personal life to a forum of chaos where for weeks we had no resolution of who would lead our country in the new millennium.

Now I know I’m pushing my luck bringing up such a delicate topic but please trust that my comments are not meant to offend anyone. These are simply some thoughts that rolled off a double play and landed somewhere in back field. I, for one, voted; though I’m not sure whether I chose the better of the two. It’s a bit hard to choose between a man who inhales his wife’s lips on national television and a man who’d rather be fishing than home when his daughter is having surgery. Let’s face it: we weren’t given the best choices.

Then we went through weeks of politics and innuendos that left us feeling exhausted over the whole idea of having anyone run our country. Do we ever really think about the models we choose to represent us? Are these the kinds of people we really want to be? Sure, we want our children to grow up and respect upstanding positions. Perhaps even aspire to the presidency; but who do we model them after? In recent years has there been anyone who could uphold such an honor?

I say bring it back home to where the real heroes are. Right within your own walls. You are the representatives of what is good and wholesome in this life. You are America the Beautiful. You signify the class of the home of the brave because you are the mothers, fathers, grandparents, sisters and brothers who set an example of what this country is all about. The lessons you teach and the experiences you share are far more valuable then the political mayhem we might witness on the evening news.

Stay within the law but be your own person. Grasp life with positivity and caress it as you would a newborn baby. Share yourself with others but never forget to value yourself. Don’t take life so seriously that you neglect to enjoy it. Be kind. Be caring and always be reaching for those Healthy Horizons.