Is Balance in Life Really Possible?

TABS BLOG: IS BALANCE IN LIFE REALLY POSSIBLE? 

Installment 1

So, as I’ve been trying to figure out my life over the past months, I’ve been pondering “balance” in life.  My work/life balance has been way out of whack for several years now and it has led to some negative consequences in my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual life.  I’m finally starting to get my life realigned; and, in the next few blogs, I’ll be sharing the things I’ve learned that have helped me.

Unless you’ve been to one of our seminars in the past year, you may not have heard our bottom line mission statement at Insight and Restore.  We are here to partner with you to help you reach Optimal Health where your health span equals your life span.  We are not here to do all the work for you; we are here to help and guide you.  But most of the work is up to you just as most of it is up to me for my own health!

Life Span:  The length of time from birth until death, including some years at the end of life which may have some level of disability that reduces the quality of life.

Health Span:  The length of time from birth until you become disabled.  Ideally, you want to be functional & independent and able to enjoy life until the day you die.

True Death = Life Span – Health Span

Optimal Health:  Health Span = Life Span

Our mission is to help you reach your personal level of Optimal Health where your Health Span is the same as you Life Span.  As part of accomplishing this huge goal of reaching Optimal Health, each of us has to work on our body, soul, and spirit and try to bring balance in each area.

In order to reach Optimal Health for yourself, you have to permanently change your daily lifestyle choices and your paradigm of health.  Over the past 50 years, our health care system has devalued what health and health care should really be for you and be worth for you.  The system and our culture have created a “get fixed quick” attitude that costs you very little. 

Here’s the current health care culture and belief system.  You gain weight and your cholesterol goes up.  You go to your health care provider; and, for your “huge” co-pay of less than $30 for most plans (and some of the current subsidized plans have a co-pay of $5!), you get a 5-15 minute visit for your “quick fix” which is to be prescribed a drug to treat your symptom.  If you are lucky, the health care provider might say lose weight and exercise but give no details on how because he/she has no time.  You might also get referred to a “medical weight loss” program that also includes a drug treatment as well as a diet plan that includes shakes that you could never continue forever (i.e. no real lifestyle change).  So, in the end, your treatment cost you very little (low cost) in time or money or in effort.  The “health care” that you received seemed to be easy and quick but possible worth very little (low value).  However, in the end, are you actually healthier or is your symptom just relieved?

Here’s what has to shift in all of our thinking about health care and about our own health or else we will never accomplish permanent lifestyle change that leads to Optimal Health. You must change the thought processes behind your paradigm of health:

• There is NO real “quick fix” if you want to increase your health span.
• There is NO “instant gratification” on the pathway to Optimal Health.
• Being Optimally Healthy in this culture will cost you a lot in time, money, and effort.
• You must make daily choices that lead you away from premature death and aging and towards Optimal Health. 

I too have to choose to not buy a Starbuck’s Vanilla Latte and choose to buy some fresh vegetables instead.  I too have to choose to go to bed early so that I can get enough sleep to optimally function the next day.  I too have to get up early and exercise because I know that, if I wait till the end of the day, it probably won’t happen.  I too have to spend a lot of money on vitamin and herb supplements because I’d rather take a hundred a day instead of even one prescription drug.  And the list goes on of the DAILY choices I have to make in order to pursue my personal goal of Optimal Health.

Well, that’s the first installment in my blog series on balance.  Changing our thoughts on the value of health is the first step we all have to make.  Be encouraged, it is doable and you are not alone.  There are lots of compatriots (including me!) out there choosing this path as well.  YOU CAN DO IT!

Sincerely,

Tabetha Smith, FNP-C

Compatriot on the Journey to Optimal Health

Disclaimer: We make no claim of providing superior services, nor do we guarantee any specific outcomes from the services we provide. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration.  The information, opinions & products on this site are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.