Our wise elders told us that health was wealth. I’ll go a step further and say it’s not just wealth; it’s everything. Because wealth denotes dispensability. One does not die if one is not wealthy, but if one lacks health? One may certainly lose one’s life.
For far too long health has been a term associated with only physicality, with only the gross part of our body. We think it’s only the body that falls sick, that needs care, hygiene and attention.
But the truth is that there is a much subtler part of our physiognomy – the mind – which is equally complex and prone to ill health and disease as the body. The trouble is that since we lack literacy in mental health, we fail to see it as ill-health when it occurs, either in ourselves or someone we know. What’s worse, there is a stigma attached to mental illness.
This is a disaster, because it is the lack of this awareness that leads to depression, suicide and untold suffering. We casually use the terms ‘crazy’, ‘mad’ and ‘mental’ for people suffering from mental illness, without sensitivity to what that person might be going through.
Another thing we often fail to understand is the close relation between the body and the mind, and how the health of both are interrelated. It’s possible to drive yourself to physical sickness by worrying too much, and equally possible to become depressed due to unhealthy eating, lack of exercise and other poor physical habits. This problem has become all the more acute post-COVID because of all the reasons I explain in my article.
But we cannot focus too much on the problem. We need to look at solutions. And that is what this article is dedicated to.
Read it, implement it, and stay healthy. And remember that life is the most precious thing we all have, and nothing is worth more than that. Have a great month!
