What is Gaining Health?

I recently wrote a Facebook post about my observations on ‘gaining health’ vs. ‘getting healthy’.

Hell, I’ll even show you that bad boy right now.

I wanted to expand on this thesis a bit…

I’m knee deep in health-stuff. I used to be more like shoulder deep… and had to climb out a bit to see the bigger picture. We all risk losing perspective when we get too close to something.

Something that I routinely forget – is that my perspective is just that… my perspective. Of course I want to share it – because I think it’s been useful – and I think that if you get up here on this hill with me, you’ll see both your own thing going forward, and a few amazing things looking back.

But not everyone is so damn focused on ‘health’. I guess you might be if you’re reading this… but in general, people have specific pains… they aren’t focused on health per se, they’re focused on:

• ‘I wish I could be happier’
• ‘I wish I could weigh less’
• ‘I would be happier if I weighed less’
• ‘I wish my stomach were flatter’
• ‘I wish I had more energy’
• ‘I wish my relationship were better’
• ‘I wish I didn’t feel guilty when I eat’
• ‘I wish that I had time to exercise’
• ‘I wish I enjoyed cooking’
• ‘I feel so stuck in my current situation’
• ‘I wish I wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck’
• ‘I wish I felt sexier’
• ‘I wish I could sleep better’
• ‘I wish I didn’t have to take this prescription’
• ‘I wish I liked what I do for a living’
• ‘I wish I could laugh more’
• ‘I wish I could spend more time outside’
• [insert your wish/stressor/unhappiness here]

Well friend, that is health. All of that. And when I say ‘gain health’, I’m talking about increasing the happiness, the satisfaction in your life… I’m talking about being able to love yourself – in the size, shape, place, relationship that you are in… today… not waiting for some day when you reach that goal of yours… you need to feel happiness today.

‘Getting Healthy’ happens to you, ‘Gaining Health’ is intentional.

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Case in point, in the past, when I met my weight-loss goal – for the purposes of getting healthy, I was exactly the same person that I was when I started that journey. What I failed to do was any work on the inside. Any work on exactly why I was doing what I was doing… any work about how I would define health, or how I wanted to feel, or what would make me happy. I, like so many people out there, was driven by both appearances & the false idea that skinny = healthy.

Appearances: The 2 dimensional snapshot in time, captured by media in photographs, video, advertisements… These images – often doctored to fit some ideal of beauty – have such a strong hold on us. We can’t tell a damn thing about the people portrayed in those images.

It’s just like the scale, friend. The number you see when you step on it is magically converted in your head to some measure of your self-worth. The scale only tells you about your relationship with gravity… not a thing more.

It’s like we need some continuing education here – a course in remembering what it means to be human, or learning what it takes to be human in this modern world.

Some resource to facilitate you getting to know you.

😉 I’ve created such a resource. It’s called Humanosity. It’s sort of a series of self-experiments for you to work on to improve your relationship with your life. From food, to love, to movement, to sleep… all sorts of self-awareness. If you’re a curious person and you’re interested in getting more out of life by fixing some giant disconnects that we face today… if you’re interested in gaining real health… you’ll benefit from this experience.