Owning Your Health
I’m often asked by patients, “What are some of the most important qualities that I need to achieve a high level of health?” In thinking about this question, I realized there are many important qualities, but there is one that standouts as one of the most common that I’ve seen consistently in patients that have made the most profound changes in their health. In fact, this one quality is really the foundation of making long-lasting change. Without it, you live at the effects of your life. But with it, the ability to make change is at your fingertips. With this one distinction, I have seen patients make breakthroughs when everyone else thought it was impossible.
This one factor may seem so simple and too good to be true, but because it seems so obvious, it’s often unfortunately thrown off to the side! The consistent quality in people that I’ve seen achieve the highest level of health is that they take full responsibility for their health. So simple, yet so powerful! It’s about owning your health!
So what does that really look like? They do not give up their health to anyone. They don’t blame their doctor, their insurance company, the healthcare system, or their parents for bad genes. They don’t complain to their friends that it’s their partner’s fault. Some of you may be saying, “IT IS my parents’ fault for giving me that gene, and that’s the reason I can’t lose weight!” Or, “I really don’t have enough time because of my kids, my job, or because of that person that I can’t exercise or eat healthy!”
However, as long as you believe that things outside of you are responsible for your health, you’re giving up your power to take your health back. In order to take back control of your health, you must get to that realization that, “If it’s going happen, it’s up to me!”
Now I know that there are some of you who are reading right now saying, “OH NO! I do complain and blame everybody. I guess there’s no hope for me.” Yes there is! I’ve seen patients get to the point in their health where there was a switch. Something in them said
“There’s more to life than this and I want it!” And they change! So hang in there.
Think about your life right now, specifically your health, and ask yourself, “What is it about my body or health that I need to change now, or else the quality of my life will never be the way I envisioned it?”
There are probably some of you still thinking, “Really? That’s it? It can’t be. That’s too simple.” Hear me now. I have found in my 19 years of working with thousands of patients that most people make their health way too complicated. Getting back to the foundations of health is what most people miss. Why? Because we are constantly getting bombarded with information, with the newest quick “fix”. Why does this pull us in? Well, because anything new creates excitement, stimulation, and basically a change in our emotional state. Then the next thing you know, we’re back were we started.
So, just hold for a moment and breathe. Come on, take that breath! Listen, I understand. Our minds are ALWAYS running and we’re just trying to keep up. So please just take a moment and give yourself a chance to get back to the basics.
For example, let’s talk about the first time I tried to get my fireplace started. I threw a couple pages of newspaper in because I wanted to create that fast flame and bam, I got it! This surge of flames. It was awesome! Then in moments, it was gone. 20 minutes and three full newspapers later I realized, “I need something that’s going to give me that long-term burn.” So what did I do? I went to the grocery store and got a Duraflame log! The point of my story is not to get caught up in the peripheral bright flames of the next best, new and quick thing. It will leave you sitting there in ashes, no pun intended.
When you decide to take back responsibility for your health, you begin to look at the problem with full acceptance that you ARE part of the equation. Once you do that, YOU can be part of the solution.
We live in a time that we can use all the best medicines. Taking responsibility means to go beyond just treating the effects of your health, and start being at cause. In order to do that, you need to start being proactive in your healthcare. This is where looking at your health from a functional standpoint instead of a symptom-focused mindset has its greatest strength.
This means that you begin to take a look at your health BEFORE the bigger conditions manifest. Even if you’re in a major health crisis right now, integrating a functional approach causes you to begin focusing on factors such as diet, exercise, nutrition, and impacts of stress on your physiology, as well as the impact of a positive mindset and of course a negative one.
Western allopathic medicine is a powerful medicine especially when there is a crisis, or a significant health condition that requires more immediate attention. The responsible patient is one who has both the medical doctor and the functional medicine specialist on their team. So think integrative. Taking responsibility means beginning to look at the bigger picture of your health beyond solely the symptoms, signs, and disease. It means to begin looking upstream and asking yourself, “What else can I do? How else can I help myself?”
We as healthcare providers are here to serve you, BUT you need to take responsibility first and foremost in your own health. You want to start focusing on thriving, not just surviving. If you focus only on survival, you’re just going to do what’s necessary to get by. You’ll do just enough to get out of pain. This is a lower standard of health, or what I call the pressure cooker. I’m in pain! I’m in pain! I need to do something to get out of pain! Then your goal ends up being to just get out of pain, and you lose sight of the bigger picture. What does that higher vision of health look like? Vitality, strength, vigor, fertility, energy! Everything we call “being healthy.” You have the ability to experience that!
If you take enough medication, you will feel no pain. In fact, you’ll feel nothing. There is always a place for medication, but don’t let that be your end game. Let medication, if required, help you reduce your suffering just enough for you to increase momentum in other areas of your health. The key is to have a bigger vision for yourself beyond just managing pain. Focus your intention on thriving. Take responsibility and integrate the best of all medicines to help you bridge the gap from where you are to where you need to go.
Get into the front seat of your health. Most people spend their life in the backseat of their health care NOT taking responsibility. And when you’re in the backseat, you eventually give up. When that happens, you start to become a statistic and your health declines. So don’t do it! The responsible patient is proactive, not reactive in their health care. When you don’t take responsibility, you live in fear and succumb to being at the effects of your condition instead of cause. So take responsibility. Demand more from yourself than anyone expects and be an example of what’s possible for your family and friends.
So my question to you is: Are you willing to take on the challenge?
If you would like to find out more about how we can assist you with your specific health concerns and how we can best integrate the use of science-based natural medical modalities along with your current healthcare in a safe and effective way, contact our office at (619) 287-4005 to schedule a free consultation with one of our functional medicine specialists where we can answer any questions you have to find out if and how we can help you with your healthcare needs.