What does health mean to me?

This week is Health Week at Adelaide Uni, and I’ve been reflecting on what health looks and feels like for me in 2021.

In 2020, I made a conscious effort to think about how I could improve myself. I don’t mean things like ‘lose weight’ or ‘buy new car’, rather, I wanted to focus on overcoming behaviours and thought patterns that were no longer serving me, particularly around my relationship with food. Now, in 2021, I’ve come a long way, but I’m still working on defeating negative habits and forming more positive ones.

The umbrella of ‘health’ is so vast and encompasses so many things (mental, physical, emotional, social) that I’ve often struggled to focus on achieving a variety of goals in tandem. Now, I think I’ve realised it can be very simple, and doesn’t require breaking your life into different categories to be ‘treated’ separately. Rather, it comes down to a simple, holistic question: what does ‘health’ mean for you?

Truthfully, my answer changes frequently. On my best days, health is joy. Other days, it is balance, and sometimes, on more difficult days, it is control, panic, or obsession. My health ‘goals’ are forever in flux, but this year, I do feel as though I’ve finally figured out the secret I was only pretending to know before: health is and should always be primarily about how you feel, rather than how you look. I exercise because it gives me energy, I eat a diet that is high in fruit and vegetables because I love the taste. 

To be clear, my perspective on health is by no means intended as some form of enlightenment, or a one-size-fits-all answer to everyone’s very different and valid needs. But I do truly believe that an integral part of feeling healthy lies in disassociating health from (a) aesthetics and (b) a destination. For the first time in my life, I’m learning to value the process, that is, the act of leading a healthy lifestyle, rather than thinking of health as an end-state; some mystical place where eternal happiness lies. The journey is difficult, but it’s also simple, if we’d only allow it to be.