What does healthy really mean? Think about it for a minute. When you take the time to determine what it means to be healthy, what do you think of? Some of us may think being skinny means healthy. Others may equate well-defined muscles as a sign of healthy. Still others may think it’s living a long life. While all of these might be true, it still doesn’t answer the question of what being healthy means, especially to ourselves. We are each unique individuals, all traveling a separate path in life. While we may walk together, our journeys are vastly different. Not only that, but our body’s are also uniquely different as well. This is definitely not new information for you. However, what is likely new is the fact that healthy is a unique experience for each and every person.

Perhaps the best way to help you determine what healthy means to you is to do a self-assessment. An inventory of you, where you are at in your life, where you want to go from here. It’s probably safe to say that many of us are just too busy getting through each day to really focus on ourselves. Many of us are probably a little scared to even think about it. Not because something is terribly wrong, but because we don’t know where we are going to find the time to help ourselves get to where we want to be. Time to re-prioritize.

So, if you would be able to see the future, would you want to? What about two different futures? One where you routinely did a self-assessment on your health and changed what needed changing, the other where you continually chose to ignore yourself. If only we had the ability to see ahead of time the impact of our decisions before we made them. Would that alter how we live our lives today?

For the sake of reality, let’s take that self-assessment to determine what healthy really means to you.

• Are you tired right now? Do you always feel tired? If you could sneak a nap in right now, would you take it? When was the last time you woke up feeling refreshed?
• How do your joints feel right now?
• What is the scale telling you about your weight? Do you feel comfortable and confident in your clothes?
• How does your skin look?
• Are you eating healthy foods? If so, how much?
• Do you feel stressed during the day?
• When was the last time you took care of you?

Take your time and answer these questions with honesty. The next blog post will address the issue of what it means to really be healthy.