5 Things We Get Wrong About Health
4 minute read | You're so much closer than you know. But these five things might be stopping you! Learn what they are inside.
I don't love talking about the negative. It tends to get enough attention without bringing attention to it.
But I also know it's often easier to understand what you shouldn't be doing than what you should, just as it's easier to identify what you don't want, creating space to know what you do.
That's why I'm highlighting what we get wrong about living healthy. To set those things aside so you can see what it actually takes.
Really, to stop chasing health and learn to create it.
Here's my list of five things we get wrong about what it means to live healthy.
01. Believing Your Body Is the Problem
There tends to be an underlying theme within the health space, telling you your body is the problem.
I want you to know it's not the problem, even if it appears like the problem.
Your body is always fighting on your behalf for your survival.
When you fail to recognize the power of health within you, you slip into believing that your body is against you. And when you believe your body is against you, you see illness and disease as your body failing you. Not as biofeedback signals telling you your body is out of balance.
You let your problems identify you rather than identifying with health.
Your body is far more powerful than you give it credit. Healing requires you to respect this.
The problem is not your body.
The problem is the lack of support, nourishment, rest, play, and connections your body needs to thrive.
Health happens when you stop trying to change your body and learn to support it.
02. Believing Health is a Destination
Health has perpetually been identified as a destination. It's defined as a number on the scale, a metric of one's appearance. Even the dictionary defines health as a place free of illness and disease.
Unfortunately, understanding health this way and calling yourself healthy only when you arrive creates a gap between where you currently are and where you believe health exists. This gap creates room for frustration, overwhelm, confusion, and negativity.Â
It shifts your beliefs just enough to open the door to confusion that keeps you stuck.
The reality is that you're so much closer than you know. In fact, you're one simple decision away. Because health is not a destination. Health is an action.
Think of it this way. Health is not arriving at your goal weight. Health is the millions of decisions you make to act in health that will lead to that. Health is the decision to eat breakfast, consume more protein, move your body, work on your mindset, and get adequate sleep.
When you understand this, you don't eliminate the vision or destination. You use that to set a direction of action you can take. You see where you want to go, and you choose to fill the gap with healthy action.
Health is a verb. It's an action word. It's what you do and how you create it.
Health is a lifestyle.
03. Fearing Aging (and death)
I don't mean to sound morbid with this one, but I think most people have a problem with mortality. We fear death to the point we try to avoid it, leaving us celebrating our youth while hating the process of aging.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think any of us should wish for premature death. But we miss out on so much life, avoiding what is unavoidable and attempting to control what is out of our control.
In the process, we tend to exacerbate aging, not slow it.
You cannot change the number of days you have. You can't stop the aging process. It's part of being human.
Instead of trying, what if you choose to better the days you do have?
To work to support your health no matter what season of life you're living. A lot can change with this simple mindset shift.
04. Working for Weight LossÂ
Weight loss has been a central theme throughout health. Your weight says a lot about your internal health—not because of the number but because of what that number represents.
Health is the type of structure you're made up of more than it's the weight of your whole.Â
The type of structure determines the strength and resiliency of your biology. Making health more about structure than weight loss.
Next week, I will release a podcast identifying the key to building better structures.Â
For now, stop focusing on weight loss and start focusing on building healthier structure. Better structure builds resiliency that makes health withstand the test of time.
05. Separating Out Specific SystemsÂ
I'm so glad we have researched the intricacies of our bodies, but I think our efforts to zoom in on the body have made us miss the most important part of health: how it all works together.Â
We can't possibly understand health by isolating cells in petri dishes. Doing so makes us miss how it interacts with all of life.Â
Perhaps this is why we don't have cures for things like cancer. Cells in isolation are very different than cells connected to your whole.
I don't say this to overwhelm you but to encourage you. It's okay to pull back, to return to simplistic health.Â
Your cells are reacting not only to your physiology but also to your mind and soul.Â
I'm not saying we should eliminate the perks of Western medicine, but we can't get so focused on the details that we miss the whole. In your day-to-day life, pay attention. Awareness is one of the most critical tools you have. Plus, it's free.
Your body is always talking to you.
Your body is always talking to you. It's communicating how balanced or out of balance it is. From this, you can determine what it needs. The goal is to help it move into a safe space to thrive.
It starts by understanding your body!
Next week, a new podcast series called Health School launches to help you do this.
The first two episodes are called:
The Most Important Element of Health We OverlookÂ
How To Change Your Metabolism
Click to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Spotify to ensure you are notified when the first podcast gets released.
Right now, turn on your favorite song, drink a glass of water, and tell yourself one good thing about your life!Â
Don't overlook the simple.Â
