Like many other things in my life, my ideas about health care have changed – radically. I have decided to make a turn, away from a health care system that emphasizes tests, medications and proceedures and towards a more varied and diverse notion of health care. This is not an argument for me, not something I debate with people, nor is it a statement about doctors, technology and medicine. Doctors do a lot of wonderful things, I know, and it isn’t about that, it’s about a choice about how I want to live, age and die.

I am very active on the farm and I walk up a steep hill at least once a day. I am getting regular massage, something that has profoundly altered the way I move and feel. I have given up all medications relating to sleep and am sleeping better. I got a vegetable juicer and am making amazing shakes and juices every day, mixing and experimenting with fruit and vegetables. Above is my lunch today, and I have felt an immediate rise in energy, focus, externally and internally and a general sense of health. I am also meditating two or three times a day, and am seeing a spiritual counselor, one of the healthier things I have ever done.

This is my health care system, not and for the foreseeable future. I will not be tested for illness, unless I feel ill or alarmed by something. I am learning to listen to my own body, and I am liking what I hear. I am not looking for a Fountain of Youth. I understand my body is changing and that, to me, is the way of life and there are somethings I will do to respond to that, and a growing list of things I won’t do. I love my new health care system.