Health is wealth

 If you had to choose between two option – good health or riches – which of the two options would you select? I am almost certain that most persons would opt for good health.

 

It may be easy for those who have never really experienced any real health challenges to select the wealth option, but those of us who understand the value of good health and a lifetime of it, we would choose the healthier pick.

 

I am almost certain that even the wealthiest of men, who have experienced severe sickness, would give up their riches if only they could be assured that they would lead long, healthy lives. 

 

Indeed, we have heard of instances where wealthy individuals have travelled far and wide seeking a cure for their illness or ailments, and they are willing to pay a heavy price, just to recapture their health.

 

Pondering on this whole issue of good health versus sickness lately, I have come to the conclusion that indeed “health is wealth”, especially when it’s continuous “good health”. 

 

You see, we often times measure our wealth and our worth by how much money we work for, or how much money we have in the bank. Some people even go as far as to measure wealth by the house they live in, the car they drive, or how many trips they are able to take each year to a foreign land. 

 

However, while these may be reasonable indicators in some instances, I dare say that the man who has good health and is able to maintain it throughout his lifetime is the wealthiest man of all.

 

This leads me to the next scenario. When we realise that our health is being affected in some way, for whatever reason, we have to take measures to safeguard our health, recognising that as I said earlier, “health is wealth”. If we view it in this light, perhaps then we would want to do more to treasure and protect this new found wealth that we have taken for granted for so long. We would want to eat healthier, exercise more and find time for recreation, rather than simply spending our time gaining wealth in a financial form that we later have to spend to recover the good health that we let slip out of our grasp.

 

Whilst it is a given that at some point in time we may be afflicted with some type of ailment, and while it is true that some of us have illnesses or conditions that we have to live with for life, the point here is that we should do the best to take care of our health and try to live at our optimum, rather than throwing caution to the wind.

 

Given the startling statistics shared recently by Health Minister John Boyce, suggesting that it is proven that “more than one person from every household is prone to be affected by diabetes mellitus, obesity and/or cardiovascular disease by the time they reach middle age”, I think that as a nation we need to take a long, hard look at this whole issue of chronic non-communicable diseases and determine that if indeed “health is wealth”, how we intend to go about seizing our goodly portion of this fortune.