In dealing with the pandemic that we are now facing do you believe your health is your wealth? Many do believe that if you look after your health, then you will perform better, and have a greater chance of achieving what you want in life and work. Yet, so many of us do not take care of ourselves; why is this the case?
This month, with this in mind I would like to share a conversation from my book Conversations in Singapore.
‘Yes, for the most part, people do accept that looking after their health is so important, yet so many just don’t do it, including me.’
‘Why do you think this is the case for you, Michael?’ Parandin asked.
I took a moment to think. ‘I honestly go through phases of really looking after my health, exercising, eating properly, getting the right amount of sleep and rest, but what has stopped me from really carrying on and looking after my health is a need to tend to other commitments; or I get too busy and just don’t have enough time to do all these things.’
Parandin said: ‘People so often associate looking after their health and well-being with pain and discomfort – having to eat a proper diet, getting the right amount of sleep and rest, doing exercise, and so on. They often don’t think that the time, effort and energy is worth it, for there is so much else they could be doing – like more work, and getting paid for it, eating and drinking for comfort, and so on. Only, Michael, what probably stops you, like most people, is none of these things. What stops you is that you start to feel good about yourself, and this is something most people struggle with: feeling good about themselves.
‘So many start to take good care of their health but just can’t keep it going. One of the reasons for this is so often that their own subconscious saboteur stops them being successful. Those core beliefs that tell them: “You are not worthy of success”; “You can’t [change to: don’t deserve to] have things too good”; “Who are you to be feeling this good?”; “What’s the point? It’s all going to end in failure anyway – I won’t lose weight (or whatever).”
Knowing this is the case for you, Michael, you need to try to see that by looking after your health, you are investing in yourself at the very highest level; this is a real way of valuing yourself in terms of your own success and well-being.
‘Probably the greatest benefit you will experience from looking after your health – including the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional aspects – will be the development of your “muscles of proactivity”. Taking consistent actions based on the value of your own health and well-being, instead of reacting to all the forces that keep you from looking after it, will, first, enable you to believe in your own success and, second, give you the energy to achieve true success in all areas of your life.’
Take good care and truly do wish you and all yours the very best of health at this time.