'Your Health Is Your Wealth'

'Your Health is Your Wealth'

 A saying that's frequently circulated, but what does it actually mean? 

One particular statement that my great Nan taught me and I hold close is, ‘your health is your wealth’, without prioritising that, nothing else matters. In today's society we can often forget that and place wealth as the greatest priority, in a world and system that can be competitive, we let our value be defined by our wealth. Of course, I'm not naive to the fact that possession of money can bring a certain level of freedom to our lives, and we can still take steps to reduce unnecessary suffering or divide, but when we take a step back and view the world and ourselves for a wider perspective, it's valuing our health that will ensure we live a life of longevity and happiness. 

There are external elements that may bring an aspect of opportunity, but I believe health is what brings abundance. Your health, no one else’s. As we are all different it cannot be defined, it’s personal. The optimal balance of your physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual being. Some aspects of health are out of your control, they can come along out of nowhere and swoop you off your feet without any warning or definitive reason. But that’s why I believe it’s important to care for yourself in ways that you can, what’s in your control. There's balance between caring for yourself and developing compulsions or anxieties around it, that can be just as damaging as not caring for oneself at all. Any level of extremity either way can have its detrimental effects. 

What rings true with me is that what you would class as ‘healthy’ in both society and science, can also soon become ‘unhealthy’ when taken too far. You may think that a certain behaviour or goal will lead you to a greater happiness, which in turn will affect how you view yourself and therefore lead to a sense of self-worth. But this behaviour or goal is not worth chasing without the consideration for your health. Focusing on optimising your well-being may be something you’ve become lost in, it may be a necessity, your body function is just as important as your mind and it is smarter than we give it credit for. You may be able to push out that smile on the outside, but it hides what’s really on the inside. 

I know that when I was encapsulated with darkness it wasn’t just my happiness that was wiped out. Letting my mind lead the way, my mental struggle began to manifest itself physically. Bodily systems were shutting down. My feelings were either non-existent or full force, I developed symptoms that were indicators of my body and mind being out of line. It can be difficult to allow yourself to believe it, but the body is so powerful. Its efforts to conserve the energy you need to survive by shutting down or affecting other parts of you is fascinating, to keep you going despite it not being what you may want, shutting down systems to save the drivers, to keep your blood pumping and heart beating. It’s fighting for you to stay when your mind is telling you not to.  

When chasing my image of ‘perfection’ or searching for ‘happiness’ outside of myself, I was adamant that it would come if I go there and that I would enter a world full of self-worth and confidence, but the focus on my health wasn’t there. When taking care of one’s body and mind, you will be able to see through a clear, rational lens when it comes to accepting your worth and living a fulfilled life. When we are no longer afraid of being seen clearly, we can begin to see clearly. An awareness of both ourselves and each moment. 

Happiness and health can’t be constant, we may want them to be, but it is part of life to have our fair share of battles with both, but we are able to look after ourselves nevertheless. Our mental health is constantly tested. This world thrives off of our need to find more, money is made from our anxieties and need to fix all the time. The belief that we have to change ourselves in order to be happy. But no matter what we invest in, happiness cannot be bought. It’s a feeling within us all, despite what we are faced with. It’s accessible when we allow it to be, when we place our lives in our own hands and not someone else’s. 

If you are struggling with your health at the moment, if you are not feeling your best or are suffering, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Both physical and mental health can be set astray throughout our lifetimes and like a thief in the night, rob our happiness. At times our happiness may be overpowered or clouded by other emotions, but it’s not a constant state, how we feel constantly shifts, always remember you never have to become someone else to experience happiness. Just like self-worth, it is something you are capable of.  

Sometimes what you run in search for is within you, it is you. One size does not fit all and although we function in similar ways, what ‘healthy’ looks like is different for everyone, for every ‘body’. Even if we all followed exactly the same routine, diet, exercise, job, lifestyle, we would still all look different. It's impossible to become a clone of someone else, so while you are here, get to love you as you.  

We all have different bone structures, we are all different, shapes, sizes, have different likes, dislikes, different influences and outlooks. Your mind and body is your home, we are capable of making it a safe and worthy place to be, that’s where true beauty comes from. It’s not just something as temporary as looks, but something that goes beyond what our eyes can see. Imagine if there was only one colour in the world, the rainbow wouldn’t be able to exist. It’s the same for us as humans, our mixed palette enables us to create the most beautiful pictures. When you lose yourself, the world will lose you, it’s when you accept yourself that the world will find you.