Firstly, Happy New Year!
Where have I been, I hear you ask? Well, after my blog post last year, about your “Health Being Your Wealth”, I was quite unwell towards the end of last year, and in the true spirit of practicing what I preach, I had to take some time to look after myself physically and mentally. During this illness, I spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of health and how it can impact your happiness so monumentally, and in turn how your happiness can also impact your health. I started asking myself, can you have one without the other? Can you be happy without your health, and can you be healthy without being happy?
So often we hear of the impact happiness or mental wellbeing can have on your physical being. Stress, depression and anxiety are talked about more today than ever before, and it is wonderful that more people feel comfortable in expressing they are struggling with their mental health. However the flip side of this is that people are less aware when something may be affecting them, as struggling can sometimes now become a norm. It is the norm to keep hustling, it is the norm to keep pushing forward, it is the norm to be tired all the time, it is the norm. But is it or should it be? is that norm making you happy? The pandemic, over the past 2 years, has definitely helped people reflect on their norm, and what they really want from life, and a lot of people have found that the slower pace suits them better.
But as we return gradually to normal, we can find the change a struggle, and this can lead to some physical side affects, which we can miss, dismissing instead as that old normal which we had just forgotten. And as things return to that old new normal, it is so important to keep asking ourselves, “Am I happy?”, “Is this the life I want, for me, now?”, because it is just as important to reflect on the new old normal as it creeps back, as it was to reflect on the new normal of the pandemic, which was thrust upon us. If we do not ask ourselves are we happy, and we push through, we can potentially make ourselves sick. Whether that is just from being super tired, leading to a weakened immune system, and catching more colds or flus, or whether it is something more in our appearance , like our hair thinning or falling out, our skin getting spotty or dry, or even looking more grey, or us putting on or loosing weight. All of these things are our bodies way of saying, stop. Look after me. And should make us ask, am I happy?
So what about our health impacting our happiness in the first place? It is definitely hard to be happy when you do not feel 100%, but is it impossible? Definitely not! I have seen so many people who are physically or mentally very unwell, and continue to laugh and live their lives to the full, almost enjoying the moments they can, as best they can, BECAUSE, they are unwell. Is it harder? Probably. When your health is taken away from you, it can be frustrating, it can be demeaning, and sometimes you can feel embarrassed or worthless, because you are not able to achieve things that would once have been natural to you. But it does not necessarily stop you from having any happiness, it may just make you have to try a little harder to push through your health to find that happiness within. However, it can also teach you to appreciate the small things, to appreciate those true friends or family who are there for you (Shoutout to the lovely souls in my life to keep me laughing, even when I feel like crying), and appreciate the little moments in the days which otherwise may not be acknowledged or noticed because they are lost in the madness of life.
And if you are healthy, what then? Can you be unhappy if you are healthy. Of course! Health does make you automatically happy. Some people think that if they loose weight or eat more salad or do more exercise, they will be happier. That is not necessarily the case, infact sometimes that obsession could impact your ability to find happiness in the rest of your life. Of course, we should all look after our health as best we can, but it is just as important to reflect on what is making you unhappy or driving that desire to change, and then addressing that so you do not let the obsession or worry start to impact your health negatively. So, make sure you are keeping healthy habits, healthy body, healthy mind, but not to the point that you forgot to find that joy in each and every day. Remember to laugh, because it really is the best medicine.
So, is it more important to look after your health or your happiness? Both! For me, the way I see it is they are like the Ying and the Yang. They are intertwined in each other, they lean on each other, and they are just as necessary as they are reflective of each other. but unlike the Ying and Yang, can you have one without the other? Yes, but through healing and growing one, you can positively impact the other.
You can be happy without your health, and you can be healthy without being happy. So what is the link. For me, it is healing. It is growth, it is that search within to find what you are missing. It is that drive to move forward and to keep going. And if you embrace this element, and try and rebuild one side of the health and happiness puzzle, the other will come eventually, maybe only in a small way, but as Tesco say, every little helps!
So what next? Well as we end this long first month of 2022, I ask you to reflect on your health and your happiness, and the link between them. How can you heal or grow in one or the other. How can you improve either side, to support the other in being stronger? What can you do to ensure you are healthy AND happy, in you, in now, and in going forward?
Remember, we are not meant to be perfect, but we can work towards being healthy and happy!
Sunflower Coaching 