If you’re married, do you remember the wedding vows, for better and worse, in sickness and health? There will be good and bad times, and husband and wife must stick together through both. Better or worse, sickness and health are polar opposites and couldn’t be further apart in meaning.
But in reality, there is a fine line between both, especially concerning sickness and health. One thing could happen in a moment that could change everything. One moment, everything is fine and dandy, then you lean down to pick up a pencil from the floor, and your back goes out.
Ouch, where did that come from? Who knows, but it sucks.
We’ll explore this subject here, discussing what you can control and why it is so important to embrace your health.
The Line Between Sickness & Health
There was a recent TV news story discussing alcohol and its links to cancer. Many things trigger cancer in adults, but here’s what gets me and blows many leading causes of cancer out of the water.
Kids get it, and I’m yet to understand why.
They are young and healthy, and yet something grows inside of them that may kill them. They don’t smoke, drink, eat like crap, or many of the other triggers for cancer, yet they get it. Cancer is one of many examples of the fine line between sickness and health. Two clients I’ve trained in the past, both of whom were turning their lives around health-wise, got prostate cancer.
One day, they were lifting weights, and on top of their health, and the next, they learned of things growing inside them that would kill them. The fine line between sickness and health is real. That’s the thing about health; you could be doing everything you can for better health and still get sick.
Here Is What You Can Control
I’m a confessed control freak, which has gotten me in trouble in the past, but being a control freak about your health is a different matter. Doing things that improve your quality of life, make you happy, help you live longer, and make you a better person to be around are all good things and are worth being a freak for.
Health is a state of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease. So, what things are in your control for better health?
Here’s a short list.
Adequate sleep (debatable, but there are things you can do to ensure better rest)
Staying hydrated
Moving your body in a way that pleases you
Eating like an adult and getting most of your food from nutritious sources
Having time for yourself
Spending time with friends and family
Talking about your troubles and not keeping bad stuff inside
Lack of time is an issue for most people, but you should be doing at least a few of those things in your control for enhanced health. Let’s face it: if you haven’t got time for your health, you’ll have to make time for sickness, and nobody has time for that.
You should look at your health like a bank account. All the things above are similar to making deposits because your health is wealth. You do this because life will make withdrawals on your health whether you like it or not. Your health may suffer if you don’t have enough money in the bank when life comes to draw on it.
Doing all you can doesn’t guarantee you won’t get sick, but it does put enough money in the bank to help cover the cost. Hopefully, this will help you bounce back faster.
Why Embrace Your Health?
This subject could be just summed up in three words, getting sick sucks. I could end it there, but let me share a recent personal story of why embracing your health is imperative.
My workouts were going well; I slept and ate well, and my relationship with my wife was strong. Then, out of the blue, I developed a fever, which I put down to overtraining, overstressing, and doing too much. After a day or two of this and not sleeping and eating, I thought it could be something more.
It hurt to use the bathroom, and then I realized my symptoms were due to UTI. Running a fever, not sleeping, not exercising, and burning sensations downstairs weren’t enough; the side effects from the medication threw me for a loop. Raised resting heart rate, reduced balance, and trouble staying asleep. Let me say that lack of sleep affects everything, and I mean everything.
If I hadn’t been doing all the right things for my health before the UTI, could you imagine how worse it could have been? As I had some money in the bank when life came for the withdrawal, at least my body could better handle the onslaught, but only barely.
Those are two reasons to embrace your health.
One, getting sick sucks, and if you do get sick, you know, the non-life and death kind, having a healthy bank account better prepares you to handle when life comes at you.
Wrapping Up
Sickness and health couldn’t be further apart in meaning, but in reality, there is a fine line between them. One moment, you think healthy, and the next, you throw your back out, and life grounds to a halt. You should never take your health for granted and invest in it regularly because you never know when sickness will come and take all your fun stuff away.
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