If you (or your family) have expressed concerns about your memory, your physician probably gave you the MMSE (Mini-Mental Status Exam), a screening test for cognitive impairment. One of the questions asked is, “What is the season?”
This can be a more challenging question on the west coast, and it’s not because dementia is any more prevalent. If you look out the window, you may not get any clues.
In spring, summer, winter or fall, we get “all season” weather, and the universal Vancouver day is overcast with a chance of rain, cool but not cold.
But you can tell that summer is over and school has begun; morning traffic is busy again as our children carry their backpacks to school. My two children in university are establishing new daily routines, buying textbooks and writing in fresh notebooks.
Time management is essential to every student. How much time is needed for homework and study, commuting, preparing meals, exercise and sleep? If we don’t carefully allocate our time and track how we spend it, social media and social activities will take it all away and the essentials are left out.
For those of us who have finished school, this season is an opportunity to look at our lives from a fresh perspective and reallocate our use of time.
But exactly where do you devote your precious time and attention?
Start with the physical essentials of daily life. We need time to plan and prepare for healthy meals and time to actually eat them; time for regular physical activity; and time for adequate sleep. If we don’t schedule the essentials into every day, we’ll never have enough time.
What and who matters most to you?
At the end of life, we are judged and we judge ourselves by how we spent our time, but because of the time-stealers of life, that is rarely an accurate reflection of what really mattered to us.
Attend each day to the people who mean the most to you. To stay connected, we need to talk — not text, snapchat, tweet or post. At your memorial, you won’t be admired for your frequent facebook posts and you won’t be loved by your “likes.”
Though some things on the internet will live forever, we and those we care about don’t.
Act according to your values. Commit to living daily a meaningful life. Intentions only count when you follow through.
Before the start of new classes, my kids have emptied their backpacks of old books and notes and all that is no longer needed.
What are you carrying in your own backpack? What weighs you down? Throw away old beliefs - particularly limiting self-talk – that only serve to hold you back. Carry only what you need today.
In the real world, we all remain students.
Davidicus Wong is a family physician and his Healthwise columns appear regularly in this paper
