A few years ago, on a Monday morning, I received horrible news about a woman that I had known for nearly 20 years. She had passed away. She didn’t die suddenly in a car crash or a freak accident. She died of cancer. Her story was complicated. Just like so many other stories.
This truly made me step back and analyze my life especially since she was about my same age. Was this a SIGN that I needed to simplify my life even more and get my health and wealth affairs in top notch? I sure thought so.
Has there been a specific sign in your life that makes you really step back and analyze your health and wealth?
When you exited the educational system, you had nothing anchoring you down. No restrictions. No boundaries. Nothing but big dreams and blind ambition.
Then a sequence of events happened in your life that delivered you to a destination that is so common and familiar with others;
- You bought a car
- Then you got a job to pay for that car
- Then you got an apartment and officially moved out of your parents’ house
- Then you started buying clothes specific to applications like work and social and leisure events
- Then you started dating seriously
- Then you got married
- Then you bought a house
- Then you bought newer cars
- Then you had children
- Then you added a few pets
- Then you needed a bigger house with a bigger yard
- Then you needed a higher-level job to “make life easier”
- Then you had mandatory social events to stay in certain social circles
- Then you had kids’ activities to attend
- Then you needed a second home, a beach condo, or a lake house so you could relax
- Then you needed a boat, RV, and jet-ski’s
- And a storage unit near your house because you ran out of room for all of your “stuff” in the basement and garage.
- Everything just kept mushrooming to enormous proportions until it all felt so out of control.
Along this journey, you discovered you didn’t have enough money to do everything you wanted. You also discovered that you didn’t have enough time to do everything you wanted.
And amazingly you woke up one day and wondered why your life is so complicated. And why you don’t have enough money, and then you tell yourself that you don’t have enough time to exercise and take care of your health.
You tell yourself that it’s quicker if you just stop on the way home for some fast food or a pizza. You tell yourself that you’ll start saving more money when the new car is paid off or the kids don’t need as much help. You tell yourself that you’ll build an emergency fund when you get through this tough stretch. You tell yourself that you’ll focus on different things when you retire, even though you know you aren’t on any realistic path to reach that dream of retirement that is in your head.
When you get tired in the middle of the day, you reach for more coffee, candy or a high-octane beverage like a Red Bull or Monster Energy Drink. By the time you go to bed you are exhausted yet you can’t seem to sleep soundly through the night. Your mind races and wanders with worries.
Throughout all this chaos in your life, a doctor may tell you that your health is in horrible shape and that it may not end well. You have a chronic disease and chronic diseases are the result of chronically out of balanced lives where you totally lost perspective on anything and everything that truly was important during your journey.
When that news is broken to you, you may realize a few things;
- Your big house can’t save you
- Your stuff in the storage unit can’t save you
- Your beach side condominium with a 30-year mortgage can’t save you
- The time you saved going through the drive-thru didn’t really save you anything. It cost you everything.
- The same is true with your sleep. All those episodes of going to bed late and waking up early with little quality sleep in-between didn’t really save you any time in the totality of your life. It cost you tons of time (like years and years).
There has never been a better time to simplify your Health and Wealth pursuits than right now.
-
Establish proven principles of success
-
Work the plan
-
Keep things basic
-
Don’t make your life any more complicated than it must be
-
Know your goals and objectives
-
Find your truth
-
Simplify
If you “don’t have the time” to do the most basic things to take care of your own health and wellness, then there is a high probability that you have made your life far too complicated. That will come at a cost.
Proven principles of wealth;
- Make an adequate living
- Live below your means and control spending
- Save consistently. Make savings a priority by paying yourself first
- Eliminate debt
- Always keep adequate and liquid emergency funds
- Invest prudently over a lifetime. Get rich quick schemes are the dreams of fools
- Use proper risk management in all areas of your life
Proven principles of health;
- Eat healthy (fruits, vegetables and high-quality protein – lay off the processed and manufactured foods)
- Exercise your body (minimum of 30 minutes a day)
- Exercise your mind
- Sunshine and fresh air
- Adequate sleep and rest
- Reduce stress
- Avoid harmful substances; drugs, alcohol, chemicals, tobacco, and toxins