Doctors are trained to diagnosis disease. Health, ironically, is not emphasized in Western medical education (for various reasons we won’t get into here.)
Well before I even considered going to medical school, eczema appeared on my neck and face seemingly overnight.
Like any male in his 20’s, I didn’t want to go to the doctor, but facing sufficient pressure from my mother, I did.
The doctor was a really nice man. We discussed some possible hypotheses for what could be going on, but by the end of the visit, he handed me a prescription for a couple tubes of topical steroids, and said I would likely have to use it regularly for the rest of my life. Otherwise, he said I was perfectly healthy and shouldn’t come back in another 3-4 years.
I was “perfectly healthy” yet had this annoying, seemingly sudden skin condition that I would be treating for the rest of my life. How is that “healthy”?
What is health?
I will define health broadly as freedom. The freedom to go to work, make a living, provide for your family, spend times with friends, and take part in activities you enjoy.
Does not having a label or not having a medical diagnosis or syndrome mean you are healthy?
If you look at your own life, you would probably find examples of where this isn’t the case.
Plenty of people, myself included, have periods of feelings of fatigue, feeling “down,” bored with life, or maybe angry at the world or yourself.
You might not have enough of the signs and symptoms that warrant a clinical diagnosis, but you sure as hell don’t feel right.
What are the signs you are in great health? Questions to ask yourself:
Physical signs:
- Do you have enough energy to do a full days work or play?
- Do you wake up without muscle aches and pains?
- Do you sleep well and wake up feeling refreshed?
- How are your detoxification pathways working? Do you sweat regularly, urinate sufficiently, have regular
- bowel movements, breathe rigorously (like in exercise), and express your emotions appropriately?
- Do you have sufficient mobility, flexibility, strength, and endurance?
- Do you have a healthy body composition?
- Can you catch a cold and recover within a few days?
- Are you free of headaches and migraines?
- Do you have a healthy sex drive?
Emotional/Mental/Spiritual
- Can you bounce back after a stressful event in a reasonable amount of time ?
- Can you think clearly and remember things well?
- Can you deal with stress gracefully?
- Do you have relationships that are supportive and enriching rather than energetically draining?
- Do you have a sense of purpose and reason for living? Do you enjoy your work?
- Do you live in the present without constantly “time traveling” and reliving past traumatic events as if they happened yesterday?
- Can you take pleasure in the everyday, mundane activities and feel content?
What could it mean to your work and how rich your life could be if you said “yes” to all of the above?
There’s a state of not being sick, and a state of health that allows you to thrive and live life as the adventure and gift that it is.
And this isn’t to say that being healthy means never getting sick. Sickness and illness, however brief, is a reminder that health is a critical component of living a rich life. Without health, we don’t have anything.
