Commit themselves to their own, each other’s, and the group’s well-being.

True: I cannot schedule a colonoscopy. I am apt to report that the challenge in doing this is the scheduling process itself, but I suspect that may not be the only reason. For the past several years I was reminded at my annual check-up that a colonoscopy was due. I got flyers, brochures, pamphlets, and a refrigerator magnet. Most told about the need for the procedure and the ease with which it could be scheduled.

Anyone getting healthcare in Milwaukee would recognize the documents I was given. All but the magnet were emblazoned with the same stock photos featuring gray-haired women and men who appear to be in their early 30s. These same pictures or ones indistinguishable from them are also used to hawk Viagra, Cialis, and Depends. Those sure are some carefree, happy-go-lucky seniors with nary a wrinkle, perfect teeth, and extraordinary posture! In short, they are perfect except for their problems “down there.”

I cannot claim it is the discomfort of the colonoscopy procedure itself that puts me off. I tell the technicians when I meet them that I don’t want to remember I was even there; I get enough of some drug or the other to leave the planet for a while. No, I suspect that drinking janitor-in-a-drum and staying close to a toilet for what seems like forever is my biggest turn-off for a colonoscopy.

However, having spent well over an hour to NOT get an appointment scheduled yesterday, maybe the scheduling process is the real pain in the ass after all. Those numerous flyers, brochures, and pamphlets all had disconnected or busy numbers. The go-to, handy website for the hospital system had a phone number that led me to human resources at a manufacturing plant. When I called the clinic I wanted to go to, I was disconnected twice, but not until after I was on hold for 11 minutes. When I finally got through, I had to name the doctor I wished to see. I failed that test, so I was assigned one whose scheduler had left early for a doctor’s appointment. We’ll see if I get called back today.

On the flip side (no pun intended) of this situation is my attention to oral health. I see my dentist twice annually and am flexible as they want to be in scheduling. I describe my teeth cleaning in his office as “my ability to scratch something just out of reach that itches.”

I am better at maintaining aerobic exercise than I am at regular weight training. Better at nutrition when I eat at home versus eating at a restaurant. I find that I can brag at my semi-annual cardiologist appointments because so few of his patients do as well as I do in self-care. I am also great at my vision care, but not at all attentive to my hearing.

Many would say I have done a good job with my career and with personal finance. For me these are linked: When I need money, I work more. When I work more, I try to work at the things about which I am interested and concerned.

I certainly attend to my emotional health and am working to improve my social – a tricky thing for the relatively newly widowed. I have a long way to go, but I am working on my environmental well-being as well.

This week as I look at commitment to well-being, I am struck that this is the first time I have done such a thorough inventory and I recognize it could be much more thorough that this.

What keeps us from committing ourselves to our own well-being?