“Health is Wealth”...

As a kid, I always thought that this clicked simply because the words rhymed. Health. Wealth!

But after a chronic illness hit a family member, these 3 words now mean a lot to me personally.

 

Gandhi’s words ring true, then and now. Have you ever been hospitalized for some length of time? Think about how much you spent on doctors, hospital expenses, medicines. Not to mention the cost to your health and work. Have you ever considered that if you were “forced” by circumstances into spending that much just to get you back on the road to health, it would have been wiser just to spend that amount (or even less) on healthy food and a lifestyle that would keep you not just well, but well enough to enjoy life with least disruption to work or family time? We don’t always think that way, right?

Most hospitals focus on disease management. Doctors get involved in your case once you have been diagnosed with a medical condition, not before. Although a few tertiary hospitals now have wellness centers of some sort, it almost always involves screening tests with a bit of nutrition information. It’s not exactly my best idea of preventive wellness. After dealing with cancer in the family and after seeing just how fast our hard-earned savings was being drained, I now refuse to surrender what we have left to hospital bills and doctors. As a family, we need to take charge of ourselves and work our way back to good health. In my yoga practice, I have come to believe that the body indeed knows how to heal itself and it is constantly trying to do so. It is up to us to help this natural restorative process along by choosing what we eat, when we sleep, how we live, what we do to get some exercise in, and even how to respond to stressful situations. When the body comes into that balance, healing happens and wellness prevails.

As a family we are not there yet, although we are taking active, baby steps towards better health. A big personal concern of mine too is our young populace. This generation, with all the distractions of modern living and technology, tend to be very late night owls who binge eat, smoke and consume alcohol. The carefree (often reckless) spirit of youth choose enjoyment and good times over health, thinking it is not an immediate concern. From this age, looking back at my youth, and having experienced now what it is to be part of a medical crisis, I have this to say to our young people (and this includes my children):

Do not wait for illness to take away

Everything you are working for, everything you enjoy now.

Taking steps to better health while young is the sure way

To enjoy retirement — doing what you love to do with what you earned.

I found this on the internet and it aptly sums up how I want to end this post. At the start of this year 2015, let us pause and ponder these words. They will serve us well if we listen and take action. Good luck on your journey to better health!