Heart problems run in our family?

I have written before about my eldest brother who had a heart attack at the age of 51 and died soon after admission into KLGH. Then history repeated itself when his second son had a heart attack also around the same age, but was lucky he was then in London where he was admitted into Guy's Hospital and had an angioplasty done almost immediately. He is now healthier than before.

This morning, I received a text message informing me about his younger brother, about to have a by-pass operation in a private hospital in KL. He is 52 this year. I was told he had an angioplasty done but still required a by-pass operation.

When my eldest brother died at age of 51 and my second brother died at the age of 60 (he had a by-pass few years before), I told myself that I will stay away from stressful living and live a simple life in Batu Gajah. I know many friends who are doing very well in their careers or businesses but I know myself better than others. I have proven capable of managing housing development projects and I do not need to prove I am capable of doing other things just to show that I can.

I know for a fact that many people are working very hard just to juggle between business or career and family. There are those professions like accounting where long hours and rushing to meet deadlines are routine. What a life! There are those who venture into businesses even though I could see pitfalls in them but who am I to tell them not to? Just imagine setting up a business with rent and other overheads to pay and the business has yet to attract customers. Let's say rent and utilities cost Rm100 a day. Each day, the proprietor or proprietress has to do enough business to earn Rm100 just to cover the day's overheads, then only to make some profit or salary for himself or herself. When business for the day is slow at the beginning, stress sets in. Imagine having to face this everyday! Of course, there are those with really good businesses where people queue to be seated. But then again, the stress factors come in different forms: either you have good workers to do the work for you or you have to be busy day in day out. Delegating work needs good supervision to prevent cheating by staff. Even when thinking of holidays, you will be thinking of the opportunity cost of revenue lost for each day it is closed. The better the business, the greater the loss!

Link