A Life Well Led – 1st of Seven Pillars – The Complete Life – The Complete Leader
When we think of a life well led, often the thought of longevity comes to mind. That was my thought as well but the truth is a life well led can be short and impactful. While none of us knows the length of time we will be on this planet, we can do some things that will make our stay better and help us to thrive.
This brings me to the first of the seven pillars and that is physical health. You can work hard and make all the money in the world but without your health, all that money will go toward just trying to keep you alive, and eventually, one or both will run out. What if we spent a little less time pursuing wealth in its monetary manifestation and redirected our efforts toward our health as a source of physical well-being and wealth? And what if, by focusing some of our attention in more healthy directions, our life became happier, our mental health improved, we had more energy, we were able to accomplish more, and this ultimately netted us more wealth than a maniacal focus on greed ever could?
Internally, we feel better when we workout – the body releases endorphins into our systems that relieve pain, reduce stress and improve our sense of well-being – i.e., they make us happy! When we eat well, we feel better. When we overindulge in foods that our bodies do not need, we may feel good doing it but we pay a price for it shortly thereafter.
Now, I’ll be honest – I have not been the best at this pillar myself. I have eaten poorly, not worked out when I knew I should, and generally, have not taken good care of myself. But as I started working on this 7 Pillars and discovering the truth behind what a life well led looks like, I saw that I needed to get on track here myself – in major way. So, as part of this process, I am going to be transparent here with you – I have begun to cut my carbohydrate intake, reduce my total food consumption and increase my exercise – daily. I have lost 6 pounds so far – from 305 to 299. I have a long way to go but I am going to be holding myself accountable here. Frankly, I am tired of being tired but I love the feeling I get after I work out.
Not only is this a thing that feels right, it has been shown in studies of positive psychology, that if a person will exercise 20 minutes or more each day – which can be a simple walk that produces a sweat – a persons sense of well-being/happiness improves and isn’t a genuinely happier life, a life well led? I think so…
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