What I am also going to point out is the not-so-obvious cost of not being healthy. But, as you know, nothing in life is free. If there is a benefit, there is a cost. What most people do not see is the cost, the price you have to pay for the benefits you are getting.
There are also tons and tons of hidden costs that most people never see. I will list some of the biggest ones. This is the price you have to pay for not being healthy:
1. Vitality
2. An abundance of energy to do everything you want to do
3. Happiness
4. Love and closeness with others
5. Satisfaction and fulfillment in life
6. Healing symptoms and disease
7. Symptoms and disease going away
8. Relief from the suffering that goes with the symptoms and disease
9. Inner peace and harmony
10. Being symptom- and disease-free
11. Mental focus, memory, and clarity (no brain fog)
12. Being awake and fully alive every day (not just dragging through stuff and surviving)
13. Being present and having the ability to be with people
14. No worry or fear
15. Being confident in yourself
16. Being complete and happy
17. The ability to deal with issues that arise simply and with ease
18. Having better health now, with security for yourself and your family later
19. More time to do what you want to do
20. Simpler choices
21. Looking great, feeling good, reducing fat, and having tons of energy
22. Being satisfied and Not being hungry all the time
The list goes on and on, but these are some of the big ones.
These are all things you do NOT get if you avoid being healthy. It is the price you have to pay to not be healthy.
If you are being healthy, these same things are your rewards. These are the things you get when you are well. These things show up in your life as you are being healthy and well. So much so, that I want you to think of your own reasons why, things vital to your happiness, freedom and life that you know you would get you out of bed in the morning wanting to be healthy.
There are the hidden benefits that many people get for not being healthy. Benefits that, if you are honest with yourself, you like getting as well.
You probably are very familiar with the benefits you get from NOT being healthy. You get to eat food that tastes good, you get to be lazy and sit on the couch and veg out and watch TV. You get to not do all the hard work of exercise. There are many other benefits that people get from not being healthy, and many others that I probably did not list. I am not going to list them all, because you know most of them. I will list the benefits you do get that most people do not want to admit, often, even to themselves.
There are four main benefits that you probably get from not being healthy, that you don’t want to admit:
1. Avoiding being responsible
2. Getting to be right and making others wrong
3. Dominating others and avoiding domination
4. Justifying yourself and invalidating others.
These things are the hidden benefits. I will talk about each of them in more detail, and explain what I mean. You have to dig down and be honest, though. These four things are usually true for everyone, and the point of my sharing them is to make you aware of them, and for you to be honest with yourself about them. Most people do not think of these things as benefits. But if you look at them and are really honest with yourself, you will see the benefit people get from them.
People get to avoid being responsible by putting the responsibility on the medical symptoms and disease care system. You live under the illusion that they will create a magic pill or invent some technique or system to make you think and healthy without you having to do a thing. They are responsible for your health, not you. It is an illusion many of us believe. Because then we get to avoid being responsible for our own health and eat anything we want. We get to do what we want, and then blame all of our symptoms on someone else.
You get to be right and do exactly what you want. You don’t have to listen to all those doctors, all those people, especially that annoying “health freak” in your family. Every family usually has one. You get to be right about being able to do what you want. You get to make them wrong. And don’t we all enjoy making someone we don’t like so very wrong? We all want to be right and I can prove it. Have you every seen someone try and prove themselves wrong? Argue that they are not right? People love to be right and that includes being right with being able to eat whatever they want for whatever reasons they want.
You get to dominate others, and avoid others’ dominating you. You do not have to do what they say. You can do what you want. You can probably even control people and make them angry by doing things your way, by doing what you want.
You get to justify yourself and invalidate others. You get proof for yourself that what you are doing is right. You get evidence that the way you are doing it is right. You get to make sure that other people’s way of thinking is wrong, and make sure they know you know they are wrong.
Realizing the real, often hidden truth about the costs and benefits of being healthy will often help you create a stronger desire to be healthy.