While everyone in the world seems to be in disagreement right now, one thing I think we can all agree on is that 2020 has been a tough year. To say the least.
Everything that has happened so far this year has made it easy for us to have heavy hearts and busy minds and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, one major problem with having our emotions varying so wildly from day to day is that it becomes harder for us to prioritize something that is very important. Our own individual health.
There are a few reasons why prioritizing your health during trying times is so hard. The first is obvious. If we take care of our health we improve our ability to handle the stressors that are coming our way. Our brains function better, our ability to handle stress improves, and our overall feelings of well being are stronger. When we let our health slip during trying times, we find ourselves dealing with more stress and complications as a result of our poor health, which makes it even more challenging to face the trying times.
Another reason why prioritizing your health is so important is because in many cases, it is the only thing you can control. Unfortunately, when things get tough, oftentimes there is not much we can do about it. We are forced to face and endure the circumstances with little ability to change them. Our health is the one thing we are always in control of. Always. It is always going to be up to us to fuel our bodies correctly, get out and exercise to the extent of our abilities, read books, train the mind, socialize by whatever means are available, and find healthy ways to reduce stress and improve our mood.
While doing any of these things seems more difficult when things are tough, we should take pride and enjoyment in maximizing the one thing we have control over. The thing that will improve our overall quality of life even in the most trying of times. Our health.
It’s not selfish to do so either. When life gets busy or hard we often think that doing anything for ourselves is a selfish act. This is not the case when it comes to our health. In fact, I would argue that failing to take care of your health, when you have the ability to do so, is the selfish act. You have the ability to do something that will make you a greater contributor to our society during a time when we need great contributors to society. Don’t waste that opportunity.