What does it mean to be healthy? Ever considered this? Not what it means to your doctor, significant other, or parameters set forth for a heart rate or BP. No, what does healthy mean to you? The answers, if you ask enough people, can be as numerous as the stars in the sky.
But I’m not asking them. I’m asking you. What is health? Does it have a poster child?
We are now firmly planted in land of New Year, New You resolutions. Perhaps you joined a gym. Or returned to one. Maybe you resolved to try something new in the fitness department. Or, nutrition is topping your list this year. There can be little dispute if any of these are uppermost in your mindset.
And yet, if you don’t have a clear picture of what that “healthy lifestyle” looks like to you, how can you attain it?
Since I’ve asked this question, I’ll be the first to answer.
For me, health and the issues of life are not the sole property of the body. Life, or consciousness governs the body, the body doesn’t govern life. Think about that for a moment. I know I had to, and for more than a moment.
If you tell your hand to wave, does it not respond? Or if your thoughts drift in the middle of the workday, are you not the one to bring them back to the task at hand? What does that? The obvious answer would be your brain. Right? Sure, but what directs your brain to do this? Your consciousness. Therefore what you take into it, is what you will get out.
If you allow yourself to be blotting paper for every new fad, angle, exercise routine, vitamin trend, etc. what will you get? If you haven’t established within yourself, a clear picture of what YOUR HEALTH looks like, what will you get? Now that’s a question worth answering!
The New Year should be about a New You. But shouldn’t that New You be more about gaining insight and understanding, before you embark on a quest that leaves you floundering?
No one will be the beneficiary or the unwitting recipient of undermine but you. Before this happens, or especially if has happened before with your resolutions, its time to put a picture to it. And it shouldn’t be one dictated by a size, magazine cover, or exercise trend. And while healthcare providers may have their idea of what this entails, in the end, they’re not the one doing the work. They’re not usually sweating alongside of you during that last turn around the track, staring at a plate that looks half empty rather than half full, or to the contrary, putting on a dress that no longer requires the extra firm version of SPANX. No, as a nurse, I can tell you we look at lab values, parameters for heart rate, respiratory rates, & BP.
However, because of my decision to work at the opposite end of the spectrum (from acute/chronic to now wellness/prevention), I see such delineations differently. They tell one part of the story–like a prologue. It’s you who really writes this story, and dictates the epilogue.
All for now. Keep up and keep at it.
Questions? Comments? Contact me at serrenity.c@gmail.com
LIFE TRAINING WITH CRYSTAL 