You Are Only as Healthy as You Think You Can Be

Posted on November 23, 2021 by Harriet Harris, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Good physical health begins with obtaining a good mental health outlook. But in the world in which we live today, obtaining and maintaining good health is not easy, in fact it’s downright hard! Daily we are bombarded with advertising promoting everything except good physical or mental health choices. The focus is on having us consume everything which appeals to the senses. Our sense of delight with rich, fatty foods, our sense of adventure encouraged by the need to buy and do more, our sense of looking outside of our own selves to accomplish what others are doing. This atmosphere of always wanting more, encourages us to stay on a proverbial hamster wheel of stress and frustration.

The result is we finally become too mentally tired on this ‘wheel’ to keep up, and ultimately become unhealthy, suffer from chronic health conditions, and finally die sooner than we actually should. As Americans, our life span is currently decreasing from year to year. Every day we not only hear about people dying from violence, suicide and the pandemic, but we hear of relatively young people succumbing to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancer, blood clots, aneurysms and a host of other ailments which can be prevented, controlled or at least maintained in such a way as to allow us to live a longer life. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves: ‘How long do I really want to live?’ & ‘What type of health do I really want?’

Getting honest with ourselves about our health is the first step. We must first adopt an attitude of “mindfulness” (the quality or state of being conscious or fully aware), about our own bodies. Good health is like teeth, ignore them and they will go away.

How many times have we woke up and found we notice something going on with our bodies which was not present the previous day? We then begin to ask ourselves what we did the day(s) before which could have caused this. We suddenly become very mindful in that moment of what is going on with our body. This is the type of mindfulness we need to have regarding our bodies every day, not just when something is wrong.

We should pay attention to whether we are gaining or losing weight, whether we have dark circles or bags forming under our eyes; whether our skin or hair is changing color or texture. Have we developed pain somewhere? And what type, intensity and duration is that pain? (Pain is a symptom, not a diagnosis.) We should truly observe everything going on with our bodies daily. Subtle changes which could indicate a problem should not go unnoticed or unaddressed.

Keep in mind that everything we see advertised on media is designed to make money for someone else. Therefore, we must begin to filter what we let influence us. When we are tempted to run out and buy what we’ve seen, we should stop and ask ourselves if it is something which will benefit us, something we truly need, or something which has simply tickled our senses?

I was truly saddened a few years ago, when my closest friend and cousin passed away suddenly from a blood clot. She was only forty-nine years old, the mother of two children and grandmother of six. She passed away suddenly, one Sunday afternoon. Her husband stated that she was experiencing pain in the calf of one of her legs, which began the day before. She declined to go to the emergency room, however. He stated she wanted to wait until Monday to see her personal physician. Unfortunately, “Monday” never came for her!

She and her husband had gone fishing that weekend. She had swelling and pain in the calf of one leg. But instead of addressing the issue, sat on the back of her truck’s gate and fished for several hours, her leg becoming stiff, sore and swollen. She then proceeded to go home that afternoon, complaining about being “very tired”. She went to her bedroom to rest and was left alone in the house.

When the family returned, she was found slumped onto the floor as if she tried to get to her cell phone which was on her bedside table. She collapsed and died before reaching it!

In the months following her death, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched my memory for any complaints she may have voiced to me (a nurse) regarding leg pain. Not one time!
Her husband stated that her choice to delay medical treatment for this problem was twofold:
1) She did not want to incur a large medical bill, if she had gone to the emergency room and it was determined that it was not a “true emergency”.
2) Being a “strong Black woman”, she did not want anyone “fussing over” her.

How often do we feel we must make these types of choices? Many times, taking care of our health is not a priority as we deal with the day-to-day struggles of life. For many of us, just trying to survive, make financial ends meet, and satisfy all of our obligations is all that we feel we can do.
In the case of my cousin, she had worked with me the weeks prior to her death without any complaints. In fact, she had worked with me for eight years, and was covered by health insurance. She had the usual colds and flu, declining to take flu shots. But had at least an annual physical and occasional doctor’s visits for minor complaints. She had only been hospitalized once during all that time for an elective surgery.

She was over-weight though and not interested in losing weight. She had hypertension but enjoyed all types of food and drinks. She was twelve years my junior and would often kiddingly say: “I’m going to start eating right when I get to be your age.” If only she would have then! How many times do we meet or know people with this viewpoint? The attitude that “I deserve to eat what I want" or “I should be able to eat whatever I like because I work hard.”
Many times, people making this statement are over-weight and suffering from health issues, but their attitude is still unconcern about how their diet may be affecting their health. For many, food is looked at as one of few real pleasures in life, one which cannot be sacrificed for what may be our greater good.

Yes, good health is a choice. And how we eat, drink, and live overall plays a tremendous part in how healthy we become and/or remain.

Exercise, or the lack thereof is the next huge stumbling block we face. So often we hear people say, “I don’t have time to exercise”, and lack of energy too is a major reason people don’t exercise. But amazingly, if we just get into a routine of some moderate exercise, we will find that this creates more energy for us. Walking 30 minutes four or five times weekly will go a long way toward helping alleviate all types of health issues, including low energy and feeling tired all the time. Exercise has been proven to lower blood pressure, blood sugars and reduce the risk of cancer. But motivation to “just do it”, is the main reason we don’t!  

Truly examining and being willing to change our approach to maintaining our health is the main first step towards becoming healthier and living longer! Remember, we are only as healthy as we think (and show by our actions) that we can be!