28.35 GRAMS OF PREVENTION IS WORTH .OOO5 METRIC TONS OF CURE

By Rick Green

A friend of mine who is active in all kinds of good causes wrote something that stopped me up short. It was about a charity event called the ‘Walk For The Cure’. The goal was to raise money to find the cure for a particular cancer. She said she was torn about supporting the cause.

I thought…What?!
Is she pro-cancer?
Is she saying these people can’t be helped?
I read on.

She said that she’d much rather raise money for PREVENTION rather than a cure. Because by time you need a cure, you have it. Whereas prevention means it’s never an issue. And in fact the particular type of cancer she was referring to is associated with various lifestyle choices like smoking, over-eating, stress, and a lack of exercise.

It got me thinking. She has a point. Why walk for a cure and not for prevention? After all, an ounce of prevention, say exercise and a healthy diet, sounds way better than a pound of cure, as in radiation and chemotherapy.

So why isn’t that getting more attention? Hmm. Perhaps because a healthy diet and exercise isn’t glamorous. Perhaps an unhealthy diet actually makes a lot of companies rich cause they can produce huge amounts of unhealthy food in massive amounts. Dr. Oz goes on and on about these harmful foods, and the movie Food Inc. goes into the whole thing in detail. Healthy, organic food is more labour intensive. More small scale. No big corporations… Hmm.

Whereas when the person has cancer, they need a cure. They need hospitals and doctors and special equipment. Which creates a lot of jobs, right? I don’t want to sound paranoid. I know there are people who believe there is a vast conspiracy. They believe dozens of cures for cancer have been found and suppressed by a vast conspiracy of corporations. (And please, don’t start writing me trying to prove these theories are true.) But what my friend wrote really points to something we all tend to do. Looking for cures rather than prevention. But that is kind of like locking the door after the horse has bolted.

And maybe a ‘cure’ sounds more dramatic. More emotional. More urgent. After all, it’s much more thrilling to witness someone beat cancer compared to watching someone exercise and eat a healthy diet. (And I say this knowing how I seldom I exercise and how many more vegetables I could be eating.) Cures are dramatic. They sound so hopeful. “Cancer can be beaten!”

What if the cancer never appears in the first place, what if we prevent it, so it never has to be beaten? Wouldn’t that be better? Especially since, so far, some types of cancer don’t seem all that easy to beat.

Since my friend mentioned this, I’ve been noticing this cure/prevention thing everywhere. It’s amazing how many aspects of modern life are ‘cures’ for problems rather than preventions. And I include everything from Remedial Classes to psychotherapy to war.
So what about ‘cure versus prevention’ and adult ADHD/ADD.
Some of the strategies we talk about here at Totally ADD are more like a cure. After all, by adulthood there can be a ton of damage from ADHD, especially if you have the combined type with a second or third disorder. There’s damage to self-esteem. There are relationships to heal. Beliefs to let go of. But there are also strategies here that are purely preventative. Strategies such as…

Making shorter lists.
Chunking up tasks into smaller, ‘do-able’ pieces.
Creating a place for things.

These are less dramatic than having to apologize and explain and have your whole family finally embrace your diagnosis. They require more effort than simply taking a pill and expecting it to do the work. But as you deal with your past, as you ride the emotions that can overwhelm you as you move forward, think about prevention. About eliminating drama before it starts.

Consider the practices and tools you are using as powerful preventatives. Whether they are organizers or coaches or exercise or medication or whatever works for you.

See them as your allies. Your armour. Your protection.

Yours.