Without an investment in yourself, your knowledge, your skills, and your health, you risk having all that you acquire become just more clutter in your life.Last summer, my youngest child, Phoebe, choked on a penny. She was losing consciousness when I found her. Did I panic? Of course I panicked, but only for an instant. Then my preparedness training took over. “Karen, call 911. Emily, go open the front door and let the EMTs in.” All the while, I am recalling my first-aid training. Mouth sweep. Turn her over. Place fist. Upward thrust. Two thrusts and the penny shot across the room. By the time the EMTs arrived, Phoebe was breathing on her own and no longer blue. A minute later, she was able to tell me what happened. Five minutes later, she was playing with a stethoscope and back to her perky little self. It took me a bit longer to recover.How different this ending could have been. What if I hadn’t learned the Heimlich maneuver? What if panic had rendered me incapable of performing?
