Health Is Wealth

You could be the smartest person on this planet-but what does it matter if you are dead?
This is a simple truth of life and a lesson well learnt that health is as important as it gets. As a fourteen year old, I went on a hiking trip to the grand Himalayas with my family. The trip went fabulously well, until the return journey where everything took a drastic turn. The brakes of the SUV we were travelling in somehow failed, causing the car to skid and roll over thrice on the narrow mountain road. Believe it or not; we all thankfully escaped without as much as a scratch. My life has not been the same since. That incident helped me remove the clutter of petty garbage that we voluntarily carry as extra baggage and instead focus on what truly matters. Every day I spend is a living, breathing miracle, which fills my cells with utmost gratitude. To respect life in all its glory, taking care of one’s health always serves as the first step.

Life is wasted on the living, they say. We came on this planet not to merely survive, but to thrive. In the tree of life, your health is the roots. Cut the roots, and face the storm; well you probably would not survive. Health is the foundational force on which one builds one’s life, and I have been encouraged by my family, friends and school to value the integral role it plays. I have learnt the hard way to participate in sports, yoga and athletics irrespective of the number of times I stumble and fall (because, believe me, I have). Some of the best memories that I have made; be it laughing uncontrollably with my brother at our inability to perform the most basic of yoga asanas, or taking long morning strolls with my father, or even experimenting with my mother to conjure some new combination of a healthy recipe which is admittedly grossly dissatisfying to the taste buds; they all come out of a collaborative effort of ingratiating health to function as a way of life for us.

My respect for health stems from personal experience; I have lost some dear ones just because health was never their priority; unscientific food habits and poor lifestyle choices, and I simply cannot afford to make the same mistakes that they did. I cannot accept feeling that helpless ever again. The scars of circumstance have made me realise this at a young age. Whatever I do, I am determined to never allow poor health to become my limitation.

I find emphasising the importance of health in today’s world to be especially relevant. In the Indian context as well, I witness a huge disparity in the fair provision of healthcare which varies in terms of socio-economic status and gender. It troubles me deeply and I want to play a role in changing that in the future, while remembering that the journey of change only begins with the self.
Staying in tune with myself on a daily basis has been a transformative process. It enables me to filter my attention, gives me a good mood boost and equips me to handle any turbulences that life throws my way. As a healthy and proactive citizen of the world, I am not only able to help myself, but also to help others; adding to the vast pool of human productivity. After that life changing incident, the healthy way is the only way forward in order for me to cherish life in its fragile beauty. And I haven’t looked back since then.