I don’t think anyone would deny that having stacks of cash is a form of wealth. Or that a huge financial portfolio with diversified investments is unimportant. What good is financial wealth without physical and mental-emotional health? Well…it’s no good. Not when health is the real wealth.
“Health” doesn’t just appear because we change the food we eat, the exercise we partake in, or the vitamins we take. Though I will say those can improve health, especially with consistency and the help of professionals. Health is a culmination of physical well-being…and the following:
How you speak to yourself.
Are you constantly speaking negatively and putting yourself down? Do you repeat positive self-affirmations?
The people you surround yourself with.
Do they build you up? Tear you down? Call you out when you need it or enable bad behavior? Do they believe in your goals or discourage you? Do they listen when you speak or only wait for their turn to talk?
How hard you push yourself.
Do you ever give yourself a break? From work? School? Family? Self-care is more than a mani-pedi or a run in the woods. It’s knowing when to slow yourself down and recharge.
The burdens you carry.
Have you kept an unsafe secret? Are you afraid of being vulnerable and asking for help? Did a trigger bring back trauma that you had long-thought was healed?
The goals you set.
Short and long-term goals both serve purposes. Do you have any? Have you even written them down? Do you know the feeling of satisfaction when you check one off?
How honest you are with YOURSELF.
Are you having trouble with eating habits? Maybe avoiding making that call to the doctor? Are you denying symptoms, mentally or physically?
I have two different parts of my past that I think about: Healthy and unhealthy. When I lived with unchecked trauma I was the unhealthiest I had ever been; Both physically and mentally. It didn’t matter that I was a Division 1 athlete or that I had 6:00 AM fitness sessions. My mental and emotional health overpowered any physical progress I could have made. Once I found a way to improve my mental health, physical health followed suit. Does that mean that I’m always healthy or that I’ll never get sick? No, of course not. It means I have my health in my awareness…and true wealth all around me.
Health is the Real Wealth
Health is the Real Wealth
FULL TRANSCRIPT. (The following is the full transcript of this episode of The Be Seen and Heard Journey. Please note that this episode, like all BSH Journey episodes, features Victor speaking extemporaneously–he is unscripted and unedited.)
Hey, it’s Victor! Welcome to another Be Seen and Heard journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video or listen to the podcast or read this amazing blog and it is amazing. Today’s theme has a little bit of poetry in it. Health is the real wealth and we all know that money is important, but we also know that you can have all the money in the world and be either unhappy and unhealthy.
And I really want to focus on health.
I think it’s important, especially as an individual and as well as a parent trying to instill important health habits with my children. But health became very important to me and I became aware of it when I was in my early twenties.
My father lived until he was about 76 or 77 years old. He had multiple heart attacks at the age of 38 all the way up until 50. He had unhealthy habits; Heavy drinking and smoking. But for me, I was in my early twenties. I was working as a janitor for my brother-in-law at the time. And I remember one day cleaning out the ashtrays by the elevator and all of a sudden my face started getting really numb on both sides actually.
My fingers started to tingle and I lost my peripheral vision.
I could not see around, it was just very tunnel vision. It was very scary. And I remember going home and telling my mom, “I need help. I don’t know what to do.” I laid in bed for awhile. When they rushed me to the hospital, they first thought I had a stroke, but they ruled that out. And then they thought I had viral meningitis. So what did they do?They gave me a spinal tap, which is a very painful experience.
I ended up having severe migraines. I think, “What’s causing these headaches?” And I realized, that some of the food that I was eating could have been causing it. It could have been all kinds of stresses. So what I started to do in my early twenties is to start eating healthier and I did something that totally changed my life.
I started working out.
It was incredible. The more I worked out, the more confidence I got, the more momentum I had to eat healthier. I pretty much live that kind of lifestyle today and it’s not always perfect. But I really keep that at the forefront of my mind because I think it’s important and it’s important to teach our kids to stay healthy too. As a parent, I really try to instill healthy eating habits and exercise with my children.
Now again, it’s not trying to be perfect all the time, but it’s just trying to raise that awareness in them, to teach them that health is very important, and to live a healthy lifestyle is crucial for a long life. I’d like to dedicate this video to a very good friend of mine who been very ill for some time. I only say this and I know she’s going to watch it, is that she’s going through a really difficult time in her life right now. I’m going to tell you something about this person.
I don’t think I know a more courageous person who’s going through what she’s going through.
I won’t get into it out of respect, but I can’t imagine. She is fighting the fight every day, getting up, going to do what she has to do to maintain the health that she still does have because she’s still here. So I still think she’s healthy and she knows I love her. So with that being said, please, please share this video with your friends and family and let’s continue the message. And remember, every child, no matter how old they are, they deserve to Be Seen and Heard….and healthy. Have a great day.
