Hi Wellness Warriors,
It’s here! You might not have been anticipating the beginning of September as eagerly as I have, but let me tell you—this month was a long time coming. I couldn’t be more thrilled to debut KrisCarr.com’s Prevention Month 2013! Each week this month I’ll be featuring a fun new collection of accessible and easy ways to live healthier every day, including amazing information from some of the wellness world’s leading thinkers.
You may remember my Prevention Month from last year, but if not, let’s start with a little background info. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which I totally support)—but cue the tides of pink washing over everything from cocktails to unhealthy makeup to “Buckets for the Cure;” remember that debacle? Pretty sure my cure doesn’t come from Kentucky Fried Chicken! Even handguns. Yes, you read that correctly. There are so many issues around the pinking—many pink ribbon products are loaded with chemicals linked to cancer; companies not disclosing how much of the money actually goes to research or charities; and on and on. As the brilliant Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, put it, “[These companies] want us to ‘hope for the cure’ rather than having a serious discussion about how to prevent cancer—because prevention requires changes to the status quo.”
Now, I’m not saying that we don’t need research, awareness and advances in medicine. We absolutely do! But what I am saying is that we also need to focus on NOT getting sick in the first place, and I’m not just referring to cancer, this is about all preventable chronic shit pickles. If, like me, you’re already facing a health challenge, prevention can mean becoming an active participant in your healing. Awareness of the problem is always a good thing to have, but what about awareness of how to avoid the problem from the get-go?
Yes, there are things that are out of our control when it comes to health. But that doesn’t make us powerless bystanders. Taking the reins of our well-being is one of the most important choices we make on a daily basis. Prevention doesn’t just mean avoiding your germy co-workers when the seasonal flu goes around or standing five feet away from the microwave. Prevention means delving into each aspect of our lives and examining where we can make better choices (emotionally, physically, even spiritually). It’s putting ourselves—and our health—first. It means living like the special, supercharged, informed and passionate people we really are.
To me, prevention is more like an exhilarating party than a boring or fear-based way of living. And for many of us, prevention is also a shift in thinking. We move from feeling incapable, unlucky or unworthy of the effort, to knowing our value and believing that we can absolutely make a difference in our lives and the world around us. Now that’s some serious soul growth! This shift helped me to fall in love (with myself) and with discovering new ways to keep my little being happy and humming, and then sharing them with all of you! That’s why I’ve lined up a month of top-notch goodies that are going to rock your world, plus one extremely special giveaway.
I’ve also teamed up with the brilliant minds over at the Environmental Working Group to examine all the various ways we can take good care of ourselves from the inside out. Want some good news? Protecting our holy, hot bodies totally benefits the world around us, and vice versa. By taking care of yourself, you’re inadvertently bettering the planet. Big time score. Without further ado, here’s a peek at the fun that’s coming along this month.
I agree with you when you say that we need to focus on preventing diseases and that this must require a change in the status quo. Leaders like you are bringing Prevention to the forefront and allowing it to become as strong a message as research and treatments. Thanks!