Does an athlete's unexpected injury make you feel more in tune with your own morbidity/mortality?
I conducted an informal survey on LinkedIn that asked this question. The results? 7 votes for YES 10 votes for NO Notably, all the YES answers came from people in our industry. In fact, 6 of the 7 have insurance licenses and 4 actively market DI. Of the 10 who said no, 4 are not in our industry at all. And only some of the remaining 6 have an insurance license and actively market DI. Here's our hypothesis: We in the DI industry care more about showcasing athletic injuries and have misjudged the perception among potential consumers. The risk with this is it puts people into a defensive state. It happened to me just a couple of weeks ago. I was at the farmers market and I had three small kids with me. Someone selling coffee told me, “Looks like you could use a coffee.” He was probably right. I was tired. (Who toting three small kids wouldn’t be tired?) But it was clear he was trying to sell me some coffee so I made a weird face at him and kept walking. His tactic had the opposite effect and put me in a defensive state. I have a feeling this is what we’re doing when we point to Aaron Rodgers and say—“See, look, it could happen to anyone!” Yes, it could happen to any athlete. We know this. But I work at a desk. Or a coffee shop. I don’t have to throw a ball. I use my brain to think and my fingers to type. How is this related in any way? Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—my mom had a lung transplant. I have seen colleagues have to step away to focus on their recovery from cancer, substance abuse, and mental health issues. I know people who can’t keep a job because of MS and Parkinson’s. I have seen the effects of a serious stroke and it seems more and more of us are getting acquainted with friends and family who have suffered from intense nervous system disorders like Guillain-Barre Syndrome and ALS. This is the stuff that happens to normal people like us. We will all have to confront our mortality and most of us will confront our morbidity at some point as well. Having a plan allows us to adjust and focus on recovery.
-Max