“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” — Jimmy Dean
Pain and strain could be two experiences we try to avoid most in life. They also crop up regardless of what we’ve planned – even though we never intend to be in pain or strain, it happens anyway!
We can have all our ducks in a row or the best weather for plain sailing, and out of seemingly ‘nowhere’, something happens to cause pain or strain.
As Jimmy Dean said in the quote above, we can’t change or even control the wind and the elements around us, but we can adjust how we will respond so that we can still head for our destination.
When it comes to pain and strain in life and our finances, critical illness (events like heart attacks, strokes, or cancer) can be a severe side wind that won’t only affect our course; it could capsize us.
Critical Illness Cover (CI) is a type of insurance specifically developed to reduce the chances of us being capsized. First created in our own country in 1983 and is now sold worldwide. This cover could help with unforeseen medical and life expenses if you suffer a severe health setback, and it’s profoundly helpful and not too expensive.
Most health problems that qualify as CI are not the end of the road, and it’s more common to survive them than not. If you’re told you have breast or prostate cancer today, chances are you have a 90 per cent chance of recovering from that cancer.
However, the pain and strain can be considerably more if you don’t have the financial resources in place.
There are three methods to dealing with the reality of life’s crosswinds:
- We can pretend they won’t happen to us
- We can live in fear that they may happen to us at any moment
- We can plan to deal with them in the most robust possible way and live our lives normally
At Wellsfaber, we help you choose the third option, every time. This is what we believe it means to thrive. The real reason we need critical illness cover, which no one tells you about, is the way we humans view and process trauma.
Critical illness may not mean the loss of life, but it could very well be the loss of life as we know it; it will undoubtedly impact our lifestyle. An excellent critical illness cover will ensure that life remains as close to unchanged as possible, allowing the space to process the trauma and focus on recovery.
Ultimately, taking out critical illness cover is more than just a practical safety net. It’s moving into wisdom that acknowledges that you are not, nor should be, expected to be invincible, that life is what happens when you make other plans, and that it’s possible to prepare for unpleasant possibilities without being negative.