While driving through the rural back roads of Talapoosa County, Alabama many years ago, I came up behind a loaded horse trailer sporting the slightly faded bumper sticker offering some pretty sage advice.  “Don’t Be What You See.”

I had the joy and pleasure of spending a couple of days in the beautiful city of Savannah a few weekends ago and couldn’t help but notice the contrasting beauty of historic Savannah, and the very conspicuous poor health of many workers, residents and visitors to that city.  The people were from all walks of life and I surmise that many of the visible health issues related to lack of basic education around health and wellness, and a lack of ownership of individuals’ own well being.  I thought again about the bumper sticker; not in the context of being an ass from the horse trailer analogy, but trying to become more informed about health and health related issues and applying that information to my daily life.

When my wife was in college she had an apartment mate who pretty much slothed around on the couch all day watching TV.  She would eat all over the apartment and then leave her dirty dishes wherever the eating took place.  Everything she ate was sticking to her, and her poor hygiene led to a poor health environment for the others living in the apartment.   Namely a smelly apartment and a parade of mice and roaches.

Life is so much better than this.

The point of all this is not to be an ass but to encourage folks to resist the couch potato lifestyle.  To become educated on the benefits of good health, good hygiene, and even good financial health, through things like high deductible health plans and HSAs.  All of these things can work together for a better quality of life and overall financial health.