What is your definition of health?
Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
Only a day after I visited my doctor for an annual checkup, I received an email from her.
The email was encrypted, and I could read it only after I logged in to my health vault. On the website, there was a list of test results. Thirty-five items altogether.
Three items were flagged. Two of them were about my cholesterol. Both values are high, which makes the ratio to be normal, so it’s not a concern. My white blood cell level is a little low, but it has been low for over several years. It might be due to my genetic tendency, so don’t worry.
Thank God that my doctor interpreted them all. The list is all Greek to me. Without my doctor’s message, I would have had no clue how to read any of them.
Once again, my health has been assured, thanks to my doctor. I assume I’m healthy until another checkup occurs next year.
These test results are vital to detect any symptom of disease, I understand. But looking at this long list of incomprehensible terms acronyms and numbers, I started to wonder about my own health.
Years ago, the list must have been a lot shorter. As time goes by, more research will find more things to be measured. And I’m sure they will find some “abnormal” values in my result. The longer the list becomes, the more possibility that I’m categorized as “unhealthy”?
What is the definition of “being healthy”, then? Do I have to rely upon those numbers to prove to me that I’m healthy?
So I began consciously asking myself if I’m healthy. How?
Every morning when I wake up, I silently ask myself, “am I healthy today?” If I’m full of energy and ready to get out of bed to start a new day, I tell myself “Yes, I’m healthy.”
I may be tricking myself. But, you know, I’m a control freak. I want to be in the driver’s seat about my health, too. What’s wrong with trusting my own sense to check if I’m healthy?
Once a year, I rely on so many numbers of different components in my blood to tell me if I’m healthy. But every day, why don’t I rely on my own sense to declare my health?
This morning I stretched my arms, and I heard my inner voice telling me, “Yes I’m healthy today.” I trust this inner voice.