Last Saturday I happened to be at a buffet brunch at a fabulous place, as expected the place was packed. What caught my attention was this loud gentleman on the table next to mine, going on and on, about how going on some fancy diet made him lose tons of weight and how his life has improved dramatically all of us were listening intently.
This incident lingered on my mind for a long time, and I m sure you must have come across a similar situation multiple times. It almost feels like losing a couple of kilos is the answer to all our troubles. While losing excess weight is healthy for you … does the pursuit of health and happiness end there?
The magic formula media sells to us is quite predictable
Work out
Eat right
Sleep right
Think right
Meet and exceed the timelines
Repeat till you die
They have boxed up health and sell it aggressively. Confusion doesn’t end here, as all this keeps on changing as dictated by the pharma, food, and health industries, no doubt we are left thinking that health is something that we need to buy from outside. The icing on the cake is beautiful pictures of people doing it all, with a beatific smiles on their faces. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are exploding with these gorgeous perfectly healthy people.
This cookie-cutter approach is surely profitable!
But is this obsession right?
Over the last few years, I have come to realize that there is much more to the health story, than what meets the eye or has been portrayed to us by our influencers. When you start looking at humans as more than just a body things start getting streamlined.
To my eyes health is :
Ability to be present
Creating memories with your loved ones
Calm and composed
Dancing with the kids or whosever is game
Playful
Kind
Having a purpose
Enjoying every moment of your life
And all this can be done in any shape or size or age. So rather than making the health journey all about calories, weighing scales, some exotic exercise routines, fancy diets, or a checklist that has to be ticked, look inside, the real answers lie within.
Your body speaks to you, and rather than listening to the outside chatter, just hear it out once, it wouldn’t mislead you. Embrace your imperfections and work with what has been given to you.
Eat well but mindfully
Exercise regularly but not so much that it leaves you incapacitated
Make time for your family and friends because life without love and laughter isn’t, particularly a happy one
Journal, introspect and make time for yourself
Relax, there is always another day
Once you are at peace with yourself, the physical attributes of health, that trim waist, that magical number on the weighing scale would soon follow. Let us get health out of this box ….. it is not a sprint but a marathon.
“He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.” – Thomas Carlyle