The World Health Organisation defines health as follows:
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
I had already been practising as a doctor for several years before meeting one of my favourite mentors who asked me to look up health in a medical textbook about 2 inches thick. There was nothing in the table of contents or the index!
Patients were coming to see us because their health was damaged and yet we only knew how to talk about treating illness. Looking around at my colleagues many of them were not healthy themselves and in all honesty neither was I, yet ironically we were the people supposed to give advice on being healthy. It has taken me years to study health and slowly change how I look after myself. My best teachers have been my patients who I have spent countless hours learning from. They have been able to tell me what has helped them and what things haven’t worked.
My health isn’t perfect but I have a strong commitment to myself to look after myself the best that I can everyday. Most days I feel that I am thriving now rather than just surviving but there are definitely days where my health needs me to reduce my expectations and survive doing a “good enough” job that day so I think that it is important to be honest about this. It might not be easy but it is achievable.
Health is not a destination that we get to. Our bodies and life circumstances are constantly changing so being healthy is about understanding and adapting to the needs of our body and mind while living in a way that accepts our limitations and helps us to be at peace.
I hope that you all enjoy my blog where I’m going to share my own experiences, helpful articles and resources with you. If there are specific topics you would like to me to cover please get in touch and I will try and do this.