TOPS Healthy Lifestyle – Follow the Signs: One Way

…and now back to the next sign. I refracted with ALTERNATE ROUTES several months ago and this next sign certainly reinforces that blog. As much as I sometimes wish things could be ONE WAY, they are not.

If my personal journey on this earth, and society in general, had not used ALTERNATE ROUTES, healthy growth and change would never have occurred.

However, sometimes I needed to go down the ONE WAY path so I could learn that other ways exist and may actually be better. I did this several times and was able to DRIVE THRU to come out on the other side.

It is possible that some still yearn for the time of ONE WAY, which I translate as doing it the same as we always have. Unfortunately, things do change.

Some of us are old enough to remember ordering an item from a Sears and Roebuck catalog. Now there are only twelve Sears stores. They failed because they did not adapt to changing trends and did not buy into technological innovations. It may be stated that they stayed on the ONE WAY path too long. On the other end, now I know that Amazon is not just a river in South America. They have certainly not stayed going ONE WAY.

Sometimes I needed to be dragged away from the ONE WAY I wanted. Over the past several years, I have been told to use my “smart” phone to see a menu. Traveling is almost impossible now without a “smart” phone. After hearing so much that we elderly people (does being 68 count?) do not use a cellphone or have a computer to go online, I did a little digging. Consumer Affairs reported that 76% of people over the age of 65 have a smartphone. 75% of them use the internet. Yes, we can use ALTERNATE ROUTES.

Recently, I wanted to get tickets to attend a college hockey match with my son and grandsons. Yes, the only way to get these tickets was to have them downloaded to my phone. I wish I could have seen the face of the person I called to help me when I said my phone was attached to the wall and would not reach the hockey rink. After a good chuckle, I heard a ping and there were my tickets on my “smart” phone. I am glad I got off the ONE WAY.

We need to move on from the ONE WAY approach. From the time Mrs. Manz founded TOPS in 1948 to now, there are so many things that now influence weight imbalance, so many new ways to get information, so many ways to communicate and so many ways to improve. If we were actually able to stay going ONE WAY, then penny candy would still cost one penny.

In October 1968, Mrs. Manz wrote, “Personally, I feel no qualms about the future of TOPS. The few gaps that were apparent will be rectified.” She knew life would evolve, and since she created an organization that was designed to educate, support and hold people accountable, the 25% who were still on a ONE WAY path will be supported and taken care of.