It's interesting how our priorities can get so out of whack.

A case in point: one day a young woman (late 20s) who works with my sister at the framing shop she manages, was suddenly lamenting over a few wrinkles she noticed on her face. My sister pointed out that smoking could be the cause of these premature aging lines. This definitely freaked her co-worker out, and perhaps, gave her pause to consider kicking the nicotine habit once and for all.

Our outer appearance is often far more concern than what goes on inside out bodies, usually -- out of sight, out of mind. As long as we can't see our lungs turning black, or are heart and arteries clogging, it doesn't concern us as much as those nasty wrinkles we have to show to the world on a daily basis. You can bombard a smoker with a plethora of health information regarding the use of tobacco products, but it will have minimal impact on them unless they experience the ill effects in a more tangible way. Nobody likes to look older their years, so for my sister's comments sent a wake-up call to her co-worker. Whether or not it was enough to get her to launch a serious effort towards smoking cessation remains to be seen. Perhaps she'll only invest in a jar of wrinkle cream.

Sometimes it just take a shock to the system to get us to give up bad habits. For some, seeing someone they love waste away from diseases caused by smoking -- or bad diet and a sedentary lifestyle -- is enough for them to experience the epiphany required to made alterations to their lifestyle.
We'll all wind up worm food eventually, so taking care of ourselves only staves off the inevitable. It's not quantity of life, but the quality of life, right? Unfortunately, I have seen how badly the "quality" of life can suffer when you're reckless with taking care your body. I guess we need to find a sane balance between obsessing over health issues and getting the most out of life.

While I still have some bad habits to shed, I don't overly obsess over them -- I think. Somebody who knows me intimately may have a very different opinion on that one.