Well-Being & Health

The final pillar of well-being has to do with our health.  This is the toughest one for me.  I had my first health crisis in my 30’s and it was traumatic.  In my 50’s I was diagnosed with diabetes.  Both of these events demanded changes in my behavior and life style.  Like most people I wondered “Why me”?  I beat myself up a little debating how much my health problems were my own fault or whether they would have occurred anyway because of the genetic hand of cards I had been dealt by my parents and ancestors.  It’s probably a bit of both.  Whether I deserved them or not is irrelevant at this point.  The good news is that my health issues forced me to think differently about my lifestyle and choices and for the most part I have adapted to these challenges in a positive way.  My medical conditions cannot be reversed at this point but the reality is that I am living a healthier life now than I did when I was younger.  Good physical health is important.  If you have a sense of purpose, belonging, and security, they may not seem very important if your health has failed and you cannot enjoy what life has to offer.  At the same time, you may be the poster child for good health and healthy living, but if you have no sense of purpose, belonging, or security, your life is out of balance and it would be misleading to say you have a sense of well-being in your life.  Total well-being is about having balance and balance is found in the tension of opposites.  Purpose, belonging, security, and good health do not come easy.  Well-being is about choices and consequences.  The desire to have well-being and the experience of well-being are two different things.  In the tension of opposites balance and well-being are found by walking the middle path of moderation.