Originally posted in August 2015 by Social Media Contractors
Thanks for tuning in to my ongoing blog series on what makes a great life! It is now time to talk about each of the individual pillars of a well-balanced life:
- Personal Health
- A Secure Relationship
- Financial and Physical Security
- Passion For What You Do
The question comes to mind, what is personal health? What does success look like for your own, individual personal health?
Again, this doesn’t have to be where you are right now, today. Quite the contrary; I believe you need to define where you want to be in the future, and then ask what you want your health to look like. Build a road map to get there. Go after it, and embrace every victory and defeat along the journey.
To start with, we have to identify what health consists of. This can be a hotly debated topic, but for this purpose I see health as having 3 basic components:
- Physical Fitness
- Mental Fitness / Self-Security
- Mental Fitness / Relationship Security
Physical Fitness
As a former obese guy with bad knees who had a best friend named Jim Beam (I retired from drinking about 12 years ago), I understand what physical fitness should not look like. Today, I am much fitter, happier, and getting stronger every day. But I still have more goals. I have the personal goal of obtaining the highest level of physical fitness of my entire life when I turn 50 (in two years).
So I have defined what I want and identified a path to get there. Five years ago, when I weighed almost 60 lbs more than I do today, I set goals for getting to where I am today and maintaining that new level of fitness. I did and I am happy to be here.
Currently on this path, I have just had my hip replaced and I plan to do the same with a knee in several months. It is important to remember that yes, sometimes the path can be a bit bumpy. However, I believe making this investment now should give me the tools to really focus on obtaining my next level of physical goals.
Mental Fitness / Self-Security
What the heck is this? Well, in my little lizard brain it comes down to being comfortable with who I am, where I have been, and where I am going on a very basic, core level. There is a lot here but in short it comes down to the basic question: do you like who you are as a person? Because like it or not, you do have to live with yourself. Even if you have veered off the path a bit of liking who you are today, you are the master of your destiny, and you can define where you want to be and steer yourself back onto that road.
It’s your life and you only get one time through on this ride, you may as well be proud of who you are. I do believe that working on this state of mind is critical. If you are facing bigger challenges, there are professionals who have great skills to help you find the right questions to ask. Even if you don’t need the guidance of a professional, keeping a positive state of mind and improving your self-belief and self-image takes work but again it is well worth the investment and only you can take these initial steps.
Mental Fitness / Relationship Security
There is a lot of crossover of this topic with Pillar II, but making sure you are involved in a healthy relationship where you and your partner can both give and receive in a way that floats your boat is essential. We will go into this in more detail next week when we talk about the next pillar.
Finding a positive balance among these three areas will go a long way in building the cornerstone of a healthy, balanced life. Think about it: if you are in perfect physical shape but deeply insecure or in an abusive relationship then you will likely still be very frustrated. Just as it would be far from ideal to be in a great relationship and be fairly confident but unable to enjoy it because you are in horrible physical shape.
Identifying what you want these aspects of your life to look like and acknowledging where you are today is the result of your own actions is a huge step. Building a plan to get to where you want to be, owning it, and going out and getting it is an incredibly empowering process.
As a now reasonably fit guy, I will get fitter. I have to say it is well worth the effort.
