“Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone?”
The above lines are from Joni Mitchell’s iconic 1970 song “Big Yellow Taxi”. In 1996, speaking to journalist Robert Hilburn, Mitchell said this about writing the song:
“I wrote ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart… this blight on paradise. That’s when I sat down and wrote the song.” The song was about appreciating the environment and not destroying it.
Bringing this concept to the healthcare field: We are pretty much all guilty of taking good health for granted. It is only when something adverse occurs do we then rue for those days that we woke up feeling well and were able to place our focus on everything and everyone else. A sudden serious health event changes all of this in an instant.
If you are currently feeling well, do NOT take this for granted and take every possible step under your control to maintain and even improve that health status. Do NOT wait for an event or dreaded diagnosis to motivate you into action. As evidenced by the recent event of a bullet coming within centimeters of killing former President Trump, we are all metaphorically within centimeters or seconds from a devastating health event. We all must focus on preserving/improving our health status to lessen those chances.
Looking at beautiful green mountains is much better than staring at a parking lot. Enjoying your loved ones while you are in good health is much better than focusing on your own health problems. KNOW what you “got” before it is GONE…and work hard to keep it.
Enjoy Joni Mitchell’s tune.
