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Free things available - no takers

It was a social meeting with a doctor friend, Anil, to celebrate his 50th birthday. Amy, a home maker and a school mate of the doc, was suffering from disturbed digestive system as a chronic problem and has been to many a doctors. She spent a mini fortune in getting various tests conducted but somehow no accurate diagnosis could be made.

Amy brought this issue with Anil who is an ENT specialist, but a doc is a doc. Anil asked her a few general questions. To cut the long story short it emerged that Amy was not drinking enough water. She used to take about 250ml a day as drinking water. Anil suggested her to gradually increase it to 2L per day.  A few months later, Amy brought a big cake for Anil to say thanks as she was feeling fine.

Gets me thinking! Why do we ignore things that are free for us for our good. A few thoughts:

- water. Does not cost (much), has no calories, has no awkward taste, easily available but do we take enough of it

- air. Omnipresent, no cost, no calories and no awkwardness. We take it all the time. But how much deep breathing we do to keep our lungs healthy.

- exercise. I loved the Reebok campaign a few years ago "The road is free". How much do we utilize this resource.

- expert advice. People are more than happy to help but invariably we are reluctant to seek help.

Why is it that we are shy of using resources available at no cost and significant effort to us? We spend hundreds and thousands of Dollars on mineral water, travel to mountains to inhale fresh air, membership of exclusive gyms, hiring consultants for small things. The list goes on.

Seeking answers!


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