“Successful people are very lucky. Just ask any failure”. –Michael Levine
You’re rich, you sure are lucky!
You sure are strong! Must be nice to be so lucky?
So, you’re happily married….obviously you were lucky you found the perfect mate.
To some, they believe this is all just pure luck or even fate. That someone fell into the perfect job, or was born into a genetically perfect physique, or finally found Mr/Mrs. Right and lived happily ever after. Right? I’m sorry, but this is wrong! You can ask any married couple that has managed to defy the odds and they’ll say that marriage is hard work…not luck. And, in most cases, most wealthy individuals have personally worked very hard to achieve financial freedom, it wasn’t just luck.
Read carefully now: regardless of whether you’re rich or poor, fit or fat, healthy or sick – you’ve worked very hard to be so. Sometimes you feel as if you’ve woken up in this situation; but in reality, it is the result of many years of decision after decision.
To echo the thoughts of last week’s blog by Dr. Adrian, who discussed that humans are not genetically programmed for sickness but instead for health, I wanted to discuss how good health is the result of good decisions! Also, because it’s St. Patrick’s Day let us dispel the popular notion that healthy people are just lucky. As one of my friends, Dr. David Jackson says, “Good health by choice, not chance”. He, like many of my fellow health professionals… to read more of this blog click here.
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As one of my friends, Dr. David Jackson says, “Good health by choice, not chance”. He, like many of my fellow health professionals are often flabbergasted when we hear from countless people commenting that we are “so lucky” since we didn’t get the latest bug going around, or that we or our family are not taking any medications, et cetera, et cetera.
Do you honestly think that it’s by accident? Are we just luckier than most? If we were just playing the odds; then frankly, we don’t stand a good chance to be healthy. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (7/2000) we rank 37 out of 41 of the top industrialized countries in health. We are 23rd for life expectancy and ranked 13th out of 13 for infant mortality and again 13th for years of potential life lost. The odds of being healthy by mere luck are against anyone. The reason why we are so sick is due to several things; the number one reason being poor lifestyle habits and decisions.
Take Type II diabetes or heart disease for example. These are chronic lifestyle diseases, you don’t just “wake up” with one of these. It just seems so because these are labeled “silent killers”. They are so because often the first sign that you have this disease is death. Really, in fact, you had to work quite hard to get these problems. Day after day, you had to work at getting these diseases. You did it by eating fast foods, by not exercising, by choosing to watch TV instead of going for a walk, by sneaking an extra donut when no one was looking.
Now comes the time to make a decision. With each decision, ask yourself “how does this impact my overall state of health” or “will this make me happier in long run?” In fact you can carry this over for most of your other personal goals. If you’re trying to increase your savings, then ask yourself “is this purchase really necessary for my long-term happiness?”
We are become a society that focuses on the immediate pleasures of life instead of the pleasures of hard work and careful planning – the long-term goals. So instead of having the snack that gives you 30 seconds of happiness, pick an alternative that will give you a lifetime of better living.
Here are some websites with healthy snack ideas: http://www.rd.com/healthy-low-calorie-snacks
