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Retirement Update…life goes on….

Monday, June 28, 2010

Just a few observations about my life after Pfizer.  First of all it’s safe to say that life does go on. I still see about 8 clients during the week but I’m less rushed in everything I do.  I even find myself driving the car slower to get somewhere.  Of course this could have something to do with my aging body and mind and less to do with eliminating my etched in stone schedule of arriving at the gym at 5:30am and at work Monday through Friday at 7:30 am. But who knows for sure?  Days seem to move a little slower.  That’s a good thing, especially during the summer.  In the past it seemed that summer passed so quickly I hardly knew what happened and bam, I’m raking leaves again.  Saturday and Sunday had to be protected and exalted as “my time.”  Ok some things never change.   It seems as though June is lingering around and I like that.  I have developed a new appreciation for “house wives” and completely understand why women entered the workforce outside of the home. Quite frankly, they were bored to tears and had to leave the home to maintain their sanity.  It’s  dull, unimaginative, and colorless to wash clothes and make beds.  It’s much more invigorating to discuss the medical and legal implications of treating patient X with drug Y and developing a training module around the mechanism of action which the FDA will actually approve.  Folding laundry  is not stimulating any way you look at it.  And forget daytime TV.  If you’ve ever wondered how Barack Obama got elected president, just turn on your  TV, any station, any time between 9 am and 5 pm, and you’ll understand.  A whole new world will open up to you. The newspaper only prints the show listings beginning at 6 pm.  There’s a reason for that and it’s because it isn’t worth printing. How do I know this?  I catch bit’s and pieces of programming during the day while waiting in doctor’s offices or while running at the gym trapped and held captive to watch the channel du jour.  Sometimes I’m flipping through the channels looking for FOX news and taste a sample of bla bla. It’s basically mindless drivel with a few personalities mixed in like Regis, Whoopie, Barbara Walters, and my personal favorite,  Joy Bahar (IQ of 89). Then there’s the old stand-by’s, the Soaps where the plot is basically the same as it was 30 years ago and I’m not exaggerating. Of course’s there’s Ellen and Oprah for really mind stimulating talk.  All I can say is, thank God for Facebook!  You know, where we can post stuff like “Hi FB friends, it’s another beautiful day here in Sunnybrook Farms,”  or where we can view family photo’s of strangers we know nothing about or could’t care less about.  Hold on, someone’s trying to reach me by FB chat.  We’ll talk later.

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Happy Mother’s Day

Friday, May 7, 2010

As Mother’s day approaches this weekend, we recognize the vital and formative role mothers have on individual lives.  I’ll throw out the question, where would we be without our mothers?  Now if your mother was warm, welcoming, nurturing, loving, caring, emotionally healthy, and present, this is a no brainer.  If however, your mother was not “present” either physically, emotionally, or otherwise, then it’s a more difficult question to reconcile.

Many clients (especially men) seeking help for depression, anger, or personality disorders, often describe their mother as cold, depressed, unavailable, ambivalent, distant, burdened, intimidated, lonely, and often a victim of abuse themselves.  The abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual in nature.  One must tell “self” the truth about our mothers in terms of their personal history, their struggles, and their emotional health in order for us to have peace and healthy emotional feelings.  Sometimes clients place the same expectations on their mother which may have severe emotional baggage and limitations, as those dream girls we see on TV, June Cleaver, Margaret Anderson, (Father Knows Best) Clair Huxtable, Harriet Nelson, and you get the picture.  But the truth often includes the fact that our mothers may have been a victim of abuse, and suffered severe mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, or a personality disorder.  The truth is, if our mother suffered from a mental disorder, abuse, or depression, they weren’t ABLE, they weren’t capable of giving us what we needed in order for us  to feel loved, nurtured, and significant. We can’t truthfully hold our mother (or our father but we’ll save that for later) responsible for fulfilling their cultural and God given role as “nurturer” if they are ill equipped, or emotionally damaged.  Problem is, when we’re 7  years old, we can’t process all this psycho babble, we just know we need love and nurturing.  As adults one has to accept the “fact” that “mother” may not be able to give us what we need to survive.  If this is the situation, we must realize that God will provide.  God knows that we need “mothering” and He will provide, whether through another  surrogate “mother” ie. grandmother, aunt, friend, “sister,” or other relative.  One also has to recognize that we are “worthy” and valuable in the eyes of God REGARDLESS of the quality or amount of nurturing one received from “mother.”  Sometimes, “mother” may not have given us what we needed, but we are still worthy and valuable in the eyes of God.  We are sons and daughters of the Father, regardless of our connection with our natural “mother.”  If your mother is living, send her flowers……show that you love her, regardless of what she has given you……

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Food Police–Taxes and Regulation

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Salt, sugar, trans-fats, have all been in the news lately as Michelle O leaves her backyard vegetable garden and takes to the mean streets on her crusade against body fat.  In her wake, there’s a deluge of  federal, state, and local law initiatives rising up against obesity.  What I refer to as the “food police” others call progress.  OK, we are probably the fattest developed nation in the world.  We have access to a wide variety of colas, cakes, breads, cookies, candy bars, chips, carbs and sugars limited only by our grocery budget. But never fear, our great protector and omnipotent caretaker, the all knowing, all seeing, government will swoop in and save us all from plaque buildup, strokes, and a wide assortment of heart ailments.

How will this angel of mercy extend a healing touch?  First, they’ll use stimulus funds (aka our tax dollars) to label menus and advertisements with the danger of calories, and perils of sodium, sugar, and fats.  Recently Massachusetts was awarded over $12 million in stimulus funds to do just that.  Secondly, the government vilifies and demonizes the food industry from Kraft to Crispy-Creme, to big Macs, Frito-Lay to Outback threatening to levy taxes on the cost of their ads unless they place warnings on unhealthy foods.   You’ve seen the warning disclosures currently required by the FDA on TV for pharmaceutical ads that run for 3 minutes listing every risk, every side effect known to mankind, that could ever possibly show up by taking this medication.  Picture it now, a  30 second TV ad for Hellman’s Mayonnaise would run 5 minutes in length; 30 seconds about the great taste and 4 minutes and 30 seconds warning you of diabetes, coronary artery disease, allergic reaction to eggs, rash, hives, diarrhea, glaucoma, nose bleeds, hyper-pigmentation and an erection lasting more than 24 hours. Please see your doctor, NOW!

There’s even an assault by food critics on the portion size that restaurants serve.

Is there anything our government won’t do to make our lives more comfy and safe?

To my knowledge there’s not a shred of evidence that demonstrates our government sponsored patchwork of weight loss, nutrition initiatives, and taxes on food products does anything to directly improve our health.  But we can all feel better knowing that someone in central planning is watching after us.

People’s exercise of free choice lies at the core of this issue.  Is there anyone with an IQ above 100 that does not understand over-indulgence of any product or activity (food, sugar, caffeine, salt, calories, lack of or over exercise) is unhealthy?  That message is out there.  People have knowledge and then make decisions.  The government in this case wants to make those decisions for you. Is it just me, or does it seem a little scary that the government wants to mandate the amount of salt and sugar I can use to season my food?

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