What does 'being healthy' actually mean?

I first got asked this question when I was in college. The teacher brought up the topic of health, and asked us what we thought it actually meant, and back then I didn't have a full answer, but now, I do have my own opinion.

If you asked a lot of people what they thought 'being healthy' means, I would take a guess that most of them would say 'eating healthy and exercising', and they would be right, to an extent. I have thought long and hard about this topic, and here is what I believe 'being healthy' means.

I strongly believe it's a combination of a number of things, so while eating healthy and exercising is important to health, I think it's a lot more than just those two things. In a sentence, I think being healthy is when you have all things in your life in a positive state - eating healthy, exercising regularly, having a low body fat percentage, in a happy relationship (whether that's marriage or a partner) being independent, working in a career that you love and look forward to going to work everyday, being organised, having a loyal circle of friends and being able to sit back and not wanting to change much at all, if not anything, about your life.

Now, that may seem like a lot of things to have in place, but here is my reasoning. If you are slim, eating healthy and exercising, but you hate your job, that will cause a lot of stress, which is not going to make you happy, which could then even lead to little binge eating session. On another side, if you had a career that you love, you enjoy going to work, but you are overweight - you're not going to be happy, you will be stressed - so you wouldn't be in a 'healthy state'. That's why I believe that its a number of things, and with having all of those things working in harmony, you will be happy, content and healthy.

It is very hard to have all of those things working together, but that's why good health is hard to come by. You can help yourself with a few things though - you can move into a career that you love, even if it is hard work and it may take a while, but it would be worth it. You can control your weight by watching what you eat and make sure you exercise regularly (which exercise itself is a stress reliever). By controlling your weight, you can reduce a lot of stress and increase your confidence - which can help you with things such as your career.

Some things you can control, and some you can't. With the things you cannot control, you need to try and not worry about them, because they can soon play on your mind 24/7. If you can't control them, you can't make them better, and sometimes in life you have to rely on pot luck.

I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts on 'being healthy', I'm sure some people will disagree, but nevertheless, this is my opinion and I hope you liked it.

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