The First Wealth

The first wealth is health. – Emerson

There are a lot of different kinds of health. There’s physical health, emotional health, mental health, healthy relationships, healthy environments, and healthy attitudes. All of these are important. Do you need to be perfect in your health? No, you don’t. Eat a piece of cake once in a while. Have a nasty thought about your neighbor’s dog. It’s okay. It’s your habits that make more difference than your “every once in a while” actions.

Being unhealthy is very distracting. Your energy is focused on getting well, and that leaves you with little energy for anything else. Everyone knows how it feels to drag when you’ve got a cold. But, perhaps you haven’t noticed the same sort of lack of energy when you have an unhealthy attitude. If your thoughts are constantly on how everything sucks, do you feel alive and frisky and ready to take on the world? What if you’re in an abusive relationship? How is your energy level then?

The first wealth is the energy that being healthy gives you. Having abundant energy is great. You can accomplish so much or enjoy relaxing that much more. What feels better, after all – laying on the couch because you can’t get up, or laying on the couch because you want to?

But you don’t have to be perfect. Eat healthy, drink healthy, think healthy thoughts, have healthy relationships. And if you’re not doing one or more of those things, then change them. Slowly, if you have to, but do change them so your personal health will sky rocket. What you start now will affect and improve your Future.