What is life without good health and happiness? Can you be happy without good health?
Some people think not. But, have they been in that position themself? What is real happiness?
I have never heard of anyone that was happy every minute of the day.
I will give you an example that I have personally experienced.
My Father had a major stroke. He was admitted to the hospital and a medical professional told me that there is a very good chance that my Father would never leave the hospital alive. He spent several weeks in the hospital and was ultimately transferred to a Rehab Facility. A little over a month later he walked out of that facility. He could not talk, his right arm had little movement and he walked with a limp, but he was alive. Needless to say, he needed round-the-clock care.
At first, there were times that I dreaded going to my childhood home to visit my Dad because of the condition he was in. In reality, I was worried about my feelings and not his. I was being selfish for thinking about myself and not him and his feelings. I guess that I was sorry for myself when I should have been thinking only about his feelings and not mine. His smile would light up the room and make me feel as if I had given him the winning lottery numbers making him an instant millionaire when I would enter the room. I would hug him as he lay in bed and he would grab my hand with his useful hand, pull it to his mouth and kiss my hand. Without saying a word he told me that he appreciated me and that I made him happy just by taking a few minutes out of my day to come to visit him. His eyes and smile confirmed that.
Through the next 14 years or so his health got worse. He eventually had both legs amputated above the knee. I was the next-to-last person to talk to him. I told him that if I could do it over again, and had the chance to choose my Father that I would without a doubt pick him. Before I left him I gave him permission to give up and end his suffering. He did.
I hope and pray that you do not have to experience anything like that.
Tell the people that you care for that you love them and that they add happiness to your life. In return add happiness to their life. It will make you both happier and healthier.
As I do, many people feel that health and happiness are interconnected.
The majority of the time you make your own happiness as well as your unhappiness.
Live a healthy lifestyle. Provide your body with proper nutrition and activity. Pizza and soda tastes good but try to limit them. Fruit and vegetables are a much better source of nutrition. It is not always easy to find time to exercise when you have a job and children. Try to work on some activity that your children can participate in also. Physical activity has many benefits.
You choose to live a lifestyle that determines if you are both happy and in some part healthy. Do you indulge in drinking heavily? Do you take illegal drugs to escape reality? If you do, I feel that it is a short-term happiness, or in other words, an escape. I am not condemning you. I have a drink occasionally.
Do a deep dive and look at all the things that you have, the things you should be grateful for. As I am, I’m sure that you have more to be grateful for than you have to be unhappy about. You may even find that you have a great deal but just took it for granted.
I started poor. We lived in the southeast region of Kentucky. Most people were either farmers or coal miners. I am talking about no indoor plumbing, outhouses, growing your own vegetables, and canning them for the winter months. Raising your own livestock and doing whatever you needed to put food on the table. But, as I look back, we were happy. We had both parents living at home, and both sets of our grandparents were living a short driving distance. Most of all, we had LOVE. We were proud and didn’t realize that we were poor. We were HAPPY! No video games, computers, cell phones, or the latest clothes that happened to be in style at the time.
I feel that computers and video games are one of the most negative contributing factors to today’s downfall and the unhappiness of today’s youth. It is not real and young people do not realize it. I have seen couples out to dinner and their three and four-year-olds are playing on the phone or a video game and not being nurtured by their parents. In many of the games you can shoot someone and there is no remorse, you are rewarded and gain more points for doing so. In reality, if I shoot you and you die, you don’t come back, your family suffers and if justice is served, I am charged, tried, and sentenced. Some games involve horrendous car wrecks at daredevil speeds. No one is injured and they just drive on. In real life, it doesn’t happen that way and there are consequences for our actions. Are we teaching them the differences?
Tell your children that you love them. Show them that you truly love them. Let them know that you do by your actions, as well as by your words. Nurture them and provide a good foundation for them to grow upon. Smile and interact with them. There are times you may be a kid with them and you both enjoy it. On the other hand, be a parent and show them right from wrong and set expectations. Reprimand them when they do wrong but do it in a nurturing way. Let them know what is acceptable or unacceptable and that there are consequences for unacceptable actions. Talk to them regularly and be a positive role model for them.
Give them a chance to find their true happiness and live a healthy lifestyle.