Vaccine - The Choice that Isn't One

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

-Daniel Patrick Moynihan

When we only think of ourselves, it's easy to say no to a vaccine but we have to remember that these, important, decision doesn't only impact us. It impacts our family, friends and strangers both near and far - all good and decent people that deserve to live a life free of deadly diseases.

While I can certainly understand the fear some people have in regards to vaccines we can't, however, deny it's efficiency as there are many more people surviving a vaccine than people surviving the disease the vaccines were designed to protect us against.

There's no choice in regards to vaccines designed to protect us against an infectious, deadly, disease. Not taking those types of vaccines means that you are a potential risk to yourself and your entourage in spreading the infection. It's our duty, as individuals, to insure that we don't become a vehicle for infections for diseases with a high mortality rate.

If you choose not to take the vaccine, you potentially become a danger to yourself and others. It's illegal for anyone to kill someone else; why is it legal for someone to spread a deadly disease? We could argue that the method of killing is different but the result is the same from the victim's perspective. 

Being responsible for spreading a deadly, infectious, disease may end up killing more people than a knife, or a gun, ever could in your hands.

Be part of the solution and get vaccinated. 

Need a Reason To Walk? Play Pokemon Go!

My sister got me into Pokemon Go, again, and I was pleasantly surprised by the improvements made to the game over the years (last played in 2016). A side effect of playing Pokemon Go is that you'll heavily be enticed to go on walks because when you do you can hatch "eggs" or increase your chance of finding those little critters to add to your collection.

Obviously, this won't work for everyone but it sure did for me. I do have days when I don't feel like walking but then I look at Pokemon Go and see that I have an egg that's about to hatch in less than 1KM... That's often enough to get me to go for a quick walk. Once there, I usually end up walking for longer than I originally planned.

When it comes to personal fitness, apps like Pokemon Go may just be the little motivation you need to get started on a given day. The game is available on Android/IOS phones and is free to play. Check it out!

Learn to Love the Noise in the Home

It's not uncommon for a parent to tell their kids to behave or not make as much noises. In the moment, the noise may seem aggravating and we may want to have silence in order to think more clearly but the reality is that the noise means that someone else, often someone we love, is around and living their lives nearby. No noise means that nobody else is home.

While we might value peace, we are also social creatures that is within a society where we seem to get lonelier the older we get. There comes a time when we wish we could have a noisy life again as it means we were around the people we cared the most about.

There's life, there's movement, there's energy in the noise that we ear. We may not like it in the moment but it's very likely that we'll miss it once it's gone - especially if it's noise that's the result of a happy home.

Time goes By Fast When You're Having Fun

It's been said that "time goes by fast when you're having fun" but I would argue that time goes by fast even if you're not having fun.

My father told me recently that he believes the main reason why we feel that time goes fast is because we don't remember much of it. When we think back, there are some obscure memories that pops up but not necessarily anything from last week, or last month, or last year. 

This "void" we feel when we look back on our life is, according to my dad, the reason why we feel like life went by fast. We know we were young once, then there's a laps of time that we only remember bits and pieces of, and there's now. 

It almost feels like something is missing.

We don't remember trivial things because it's not necessary for our continuous survival. Our brain set aside some memories, that are less important, in favor of more important ones. Remembering what you ate for diner, 2 weeks ago, isn't as important as remembering how to drive. (There's an interesting article on this on Lesley University page here)

Yes, life is short and that's especially evident when we look back trying to remember all that we've accomplished. We need to forgive ourselves for not remembering every details and remember that the fact that we're alive today means that what ever we did was sufficient for our survival up to this point.