Marshall
That's a heck of a wake up call!
There's an old saying that heredity loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger. You know better than anyone, including the doctors, what's behind this. It's all about choices and consequences.
When you're at the stage of life where you're trying to prove yourself to the world (and to yourself) its hard to pull back and get the balance you need to stay truly healthy.
In a mock interview where God was asked what the finest irony of man is, God's response was that the finest irony of man is that he will squander his health in search of wealth so that in his old age he can squander his wealth trying to buy back his health.
There is no one right way to live. I'm currently putting in about 20 hours a week in the shop, about 15hrs/week on land use projects, 2-3 days a week of cardio hiking, 2-3 times a week of playing volleyball, road cycling once a week, and sex on days that end in Y
. Its funny that most of my friends consider me a dilettante. My backpacking friends wish I would take backpacking more seriously. My musician friends wish I would take music more seriously. My cycling friends wish I would take cycling more seriously. My land use friends, etc... And of course my customers wish I would take my business more seriously.
What's my point? Fawk 'em all. It's not their life. If you don't have balance, you won't ever be truly healthy, and if you don't have your health, you ain't got much.
Take care brother.
P.S. I turned down the doctors' offer of a pacemaker 23 years ago. That was all the wake up call I needed.
