How to Live a Healthier, Happier Life!

There are many "firsts" in a person's life. There's the first crush, the first kiss, and the first baby. I experienced a "first" last Sunday, but it was one that I hadn't expected until a few years from now. My twelve-year-old daughter, Ariana, saw a hair growing out of the back of my head that was much lighter than the chestnut locks on either side of it.

"Mom!" she commented. "You have a grey hair!"

Instead of complementing me on how wise I must be now that I was old enough to have grey hair, my sweet little girl crept up behind me like an unscrupulous wig salesman and unceremoniously plucked it right out of my head!

"Ow!" I complained, as she held the hair up against my black velvet blouse. The offending strand stood in stark contrast against the luxurious dark fabric.

"Look at it, Mom! It's not grey. It's WHITE!"

She held the hair carefully between two fingers, like a rare artifact from an archaeological dig.

I opened one eye long enough to peek at it. She hadn't been kidding. That hair was as white as new-fallen snow!

She kept the hair in a safe place as apparently it held some sort of humorous significance to her. When her friends came to the church to rehearse for the youth service, she showed the hair to a few companions.

I laughed along with the rest of them at the thought of having white hairs. The whole idea seems incongruous, because I LOOK about fifteen. Also, I'm only four feet, seven inches tall, which means that if I'm doing something in the backyard, my husband loses me in the high grass. I'm so small that the last time I took my seven-year-old trick-or-treating, I came home with more candy than SHE did! To make me look even YOUNGER, I've begun to lose a great deal of weight recently. When a small-framed woman loses weight, she REALLY begins to look tiny. (I normally wouldn't mind the weight loss, but I haven't had the money to buy a belt yet. I've been borrowing Ariana's. Since it's part of her school uniform, SHE has to wear it during the week. Consequently, my pants only stay up on weekends!)

Be that as it may, until I have enough extra cash to purchase hair dye, I will have white hairs. Therefore, I am taking the opportunity to offer a few nuggets of wisdom to the teen readers of Associated Content and its affiliates. My white hair affords me this privilege, as it symbolizes that I've been around the block a few times. A small array of fundamental truths have served me well along my road to middle age. For your consideration, here are a few:

Nugget Number One: Don't find a job and learn to tolerate it. Determine what you absolutely LOVE to do, and then figure out a way to earn a living at it. Life is extremely short, and you're NOT going to get out of it alive, no matter how much money, prestige, or influence you have. Be determined that you won't just live for the weekends. Play hard on your job, and play even harder on the weekends at a hobby that drives your passion to the limit! Don't hurt anybody in the process of developing a fulfilling career; be sure that your employment is legal. That way, you can unashamedly expand your financial horizons. Self-employment might be a feasible option if you decide to live life with the passion it deserves. If you work for yourself, you'll never get mad enough at yourself to fire yourself! THAT'S job security! Another "plus" is that you will have the freedom to experiment with new ideas, without going through a "chain of command".

Nugget Number Two: Take care of your health. All the money in Fort Knox can't buy you a new body, so take good care of the one you HAVE.

If you happen to be a menstruating female, be sure to take iron supplements so that the monthly blood loss doesn't leave you feeling tired. If little green pills make you feel sick, try a chewable fruit-flavored supplement instead. I highly recommend "OneSource Active Kids: Complete". It comes in four fun sporty shapes! You can even make silly sputtering noises with your mouth and race them around the bathroom sink with your younger siblings before you eat them! (My daughter Tiffy won yesterday's race, but I KNOW she cheated!) These vitamins have 100% of the iron needed for an adult, and they're gentler on the stomach, at least in MY experience. They're readily available at most Wal Mart pharmacies.

If you get thirsty, drink water until you've quenched your thirst. THEN you can enjoy your other favorite drinks.

Drink your vegetables! No, that is NOT a misprint. A cup of vegetable juice will go a long way in making sure that you get your full serving of vegetables every day. If you don't LIKE vegetable juice, disguise it as soup! It's easy. Simply fill a coffee mug with cold vegetable juice. Leave about an inch and a half between the top of the juice and the rim of the cup. Stir in one level teaspoon of powdered chicken or beef boullion. (Don't worry about the few undissolved granules on top.) Microwave the mixture for four minutes on High power. It will be piping hot, creamy, and smooth when it's done. Stir it one more time to make sure that all of the granules have dissolved. Enjoy your soup with a few crackers! This is especially good on cold, winter mornings.

Nugget Number Three: Don't neglect your oral health. The teeth you have now are the only one's you'll ever have. God can't issue you a third set, so take care of your choppers. Brush and floss twice a day, and visit your dentist every six months. You can't flash a gorgeous smile if you've left it at home in a glass on the bathroom counter. If you neglect your teeth, you'll quickly find yourself on the road to Denturesville.

Nugget Number Four: Take extra special care of all of the resources at your disposal. Is your vehicle clean and maintained regularly? Is your living environment free of clutter and well-organized? These things don't belong to you. They're God's, and when you die, He'll hold you accountable for the quality of your stewardship. It's a sobering thought, so live each day as though you're going to meet your Creator within the next twenty-four hours. One day, you'll be right . . . AND you'll be READY.

Nugget Number Five: Enjoy the people around you. If they're not like you, don't stress over it! They won't be held accountable to you ANYWAY, so don't put the pressure on yourself of trying to change them to suit your needs. Instead, treat your friends and family like the royalty that they are. Like you, they were created by the Hand of God, in the IMAGE of God, for the PURPOSES of God. Celebrate their Divine origins!

I hope that my words of advice have fallen on a receptive heart. They'll help you live a healthier, more fulfilling life if you heed them! I know this because they've worked for me. I'm still here, and I'm still trucking. I have the white hairs to prove it!