I used to teach high school Spanish. Loved it!
Beyond teaching proper verb conjugations and explaining when to use the elusive subjunctive mood, I tried to impress upon “mis estudiantes” to take care of themselves and to stay healthy not “for today,” but “because of tomorrow.” Within that encouragement, I would do my best to realign their immediate interpretation of what I meant by that.
Automatically, when we think of “taking care of ourselves” or “being healthy,” we tend to think all things physically aesthetic, “building cardio” or eating those blah green vegetables. There’s a place for all of that, of course, but taking care of our “health” is way beyond those surface interpretations.
How is my spiritual health? How is my mental health? How is my emotional health? Do I have healthy outlooks and perspectives? Do I have healthy relationships? Do I have heathy habits and behaviors?
Well, to actually answer these rhetoricals, I ask myself the follow-up questions: 1) do the people with whom I hang and 2) do the things I watch, read and eat make me dumber, duller and soft or do those people & things make me stronger, sharper and firm?
Although I absolutely make time for levity and certain indulgences (which I think we SHOULD), if most things don’t fall under the latter, I don’t understand why I’d waste my time, energy and wherewithal.
Conversely, I have a responsibility not to be some milquetoast lickspittle yes-man of a person too, but I digress…
Anyway, protect your health — in every capacity — in every interpretation.
Read my entry on Stealth here
Read my entry on Wealth here
