Scattershot is defined as : broadly and often randomly inclusive.
Today, I was discussing my long list of “good health practices” and how some of them would have to be dropped. There are just too many to include in a day’s time. It takes an hour for the sauna, an hour for the Red Light treatment including travel, 15 minutes for the Vitamin D light, 30 minutes for exercise, 30 minutes for daily meditation and prayer, 8 hours of sleep, and this doesn’t cover work, laundry, dog details, preparing meals, visiting with friends, relaxing in nature and volunteering.
Then, I told my friend about the number of supplements that I was advised to take by my doctor, along with the ones that I thought I should take on my own. My plan was to put each of the capsules for one day on a platter and then show my doctor a picture of what I was trying to manage. Then, I remembered that my doctor told me she had a drawer full of supplements but she didn’t take each of them every day. She took whichever ones she felt she needed that day. My friend looked at me quizzically and said, “That’s a scattershot approach”. How will you know what worked? How will you know which ones you should continue? Good questions!!
A little later, I went by the local grocery store to pick up an EZ Pass transducer. The young lady at the customer service desk said, “Sorry, we are all out”. I asked, “What does that mean”? She told me they didn’t have any more, but would get some in. When? She didn’t know, but just keep checking back. Check back when? Just call and see or come by. That is another example of scattershot. I may or may not hit the right day or time to find them in stock. I told her, “Evidently, you need to order more”. She just stared at me, like that was a novel idea.
Adjectives for scattershot are “careless, chaotic, disorganized, haphazard, indiscriminate, random, slapdash, unfocused”.
I think I like haphazard as a synonym. Can you imagine how many “good ideas” that people are given for improving their health? Drink 5 cups of green tea. OK, but that takes effort all day long to get it in. Who knew that it was supposed to be steeped at 172 degrees and not at boiling? Include gardening- grow some of your own food to control the environment, your exposures to chemicals and increase your creative outlet. That is not a “here and done” assignment. We are supposed to engage in meaningful activity and relationships. It takes time to be active and “have a friend or be a friend”. We are advised to eat organic, go with clean food sources, use more goat and nut milk, grass fed beef, greens, cruciferous vegetables, and more. Where do you find this? You shop around and sometimes you have to go to more than one store to find it all. Your antenna have to be up on the last great piece of information you ran across. No more peanuts because of the mold exposure, but try to eat 3 Brazil nuts for your daily selenium and add walnuts, pecans and almonds. Of course, don’t forget “fasting” and intermittent fasting by keeping up with how long (16 hrs average) between meals that you can comfortably go without food in a 24 hour period.
Then, there is sugar. Avoid it like the plague. But, how do you know where it is hidden? Look at the carbohydrates. Look at the obvious like soft drinks and sweet tea. Then, look at the hidden sources like tomatoes, potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, and the list goes on and on. If you are going to have a serious and consistent practice of avoiding sugar, you have to remember all of the sources or you end up “haphazard” or going about it in a scattershot manner.
Is it any wonder we struggle with chronic disease and multiple health challenges? It takes a concentrated effort and a lot of inner strength to care for your health- without ending up “scattershot” in your approach. Do it all and something might work, right? Wrong. I would suggest that doing a few good things consistently is better than including a lot of things randomly.
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