Here is the full transcript of Tyla Kennedy’s talk titled “Wellness: Break the Cycle” at TEDxOcala 2017 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
Wellness, the quality or state of being in good health. Wellness is more than being free from sickness, illness, and various health conditions. Wellness is a dynamic process of change and growth. We all know the saying that change is the only constant in life, and growth refers to change in time and maturity.
If these statements are factual, why is it that as we age, we resist change and fear growth? Over the last 15 years, we’ve seen a rise of medical costs and health care expenses across the United States. We have also watched the fast food chains become more of an every day and night convenience for the busy parent raising their children. As a result of these poor nutritional habits, we have actually made the United States one of the most unhealthy places to live.
We have turned Taco Tuesday into a national holiday. And our children, well, they’ve come to glorify a happy meal. We have watched our generation change from cattle raisers and farmers and homemakers to generations fixated on fast, easy, and cheap. According to the American Heart Association, children between the ages of three and five will not outlive their parents.
A Mission to Reverse Unhealthy Habits
So I ask you now, how do we reverse what we’ve created? Generations not knowing how to survive without modern technology and a drive-thru? And how are you and I going to help to make generations better around us? I know my mission may seem bold, right?
Some thin, young millennial discussing health and wellness as if she’s had some severe health problems herself. Although I may look like I know nothing about binge eating, comfort foods, or finding satisfaction in those late night desserts, I was once that girl. I never had a severe weight issue, but as a child, I witnessed my father, who was a truck driver, and my mother, a local certified nursing assistant, everything was fast, frozen, or on the go all the time. My dad, Paul David Kennedy, stood six feet, four inches tall, weighing around 300 pounds.
His nickname was Santa Claus, and for good reason. His on-the-go eating habits got the best of him, and he suffered from diabetes most of his life. I can still remember the day that I got the news. It was a typical Tuesday afternoon around 3:45 p.m., and I had arrived home from the school bus.
To my surprise, I saw my dad’s truck in the driveway. He wasn’t home often during the week. He ran routes from Miami to Jacksonville. I thought he was home for some big surprise.
A Tragic Diagnosis
As I ran into the house, my mother sat there with sadness in her eyes. There was a weird, worry, fearful feeling in the room. I ran to my father, and he began to ask me the usual questions, “How was your day? What did you learn? How was school?” I knew at that moment there was something different. I asked my father, “Why are you home? What’s the surprise?” At 11 years old, you can be so naive. My father told me he had a mandatory doctor’s appointment that he couldn’t miss. Typically, the only time my family went to the doctor’s was if they were severely ill.
My father went on to tell me that he had been diagnosed that day with stage 3 pancreatic cancer. At the young age of 11, I didn’t quite understand what cancer was. I mean, I knew it was an illness, but I didn’t understand its power. Over the next year and a half, my life would take a drastic turn for the worse.
As my afternoons consisted of giving my father insulin shots, checking his blood sugar levels, cleaning, cooking, and becoming a young adult at just 11 years old. I began to miss a lot of school, and my mother picked up a second job at the local Family Dollar to make ends meet. It was, to this day, one of the hardest times of my life. My father, Paul David Kennedy, lost his battle to cancer June 18, 1999, on Father’s Day.
Breaking the Cycle
I don’t tell you this for sympathy, but I tell you this to share with you where my mission started. I’m sure there were other attributes that contributed to the death of my dad, but I know, I know if my dad would have cared as much about his health as he did his cars and his clothes and all the other materialistic things, his life would have been prolonged. Throughout the family tree, history repeats itself. As I watched my brother, Jeffrey Kennedy, pass away from a heart attack at the young age of 52.
He was a local car salesman who worked 70 hours a week. He had the beautiful house, the lavish cars, the ATVs, and decades of hard work under his belt. And when it came time to retire to enjoy it all, he never got the opportunity to. After watching my family suffer with so many health-related illnesses, I knew I had to make a change for my family and for my future.
I knew I had to break the cycle. We see so many adults falling short of their true potential to live a life full of longevity and prosperity. We watch as they buy their expensive clothes and beautiful homes and fancy cars, yet invest nothing into their most promising asset, their body. The human body is one of the most adverse and dynamic mechanisms ever created.
Its intricate workings between the 11 organ systems and trillions of cells are all a part of what keep us functioning daily. If we do not take care of those cells, those organs, and those systems, we begin to have health problems like cancer and diabetes and, well, heart disease, just to name a few.