My wife Kyla and I understand what it feels like to have four kids while attempting to balance all areas of life. We know that it’s so easy to let our family get what’s left of us, instead of the best of us. As parents try to model good health, we are flooded with contradictory messages about what constitutes a healthy life. There’s big responsibility in providing for the family, children’s activities and health, all while attempting to find consistency with selfcare. We live life so fast that we rarely think about what we are doing, why we are doing it, where we are headed, and how the choices we make right now will be our future reality!
Everyone has an opinion about what to teach our children or how we should live. If our world was thriving, we wouldn’t need a desperate change of direction. There comes a point, though, when you realize that YOU actually are the authority on what is best for your family. You have the power to take back your family from a culture with no shortage of profits over people, corruption, lies, materialism, vanity, divisiveness, band aid health solutions, and success at all costs. Relationships are the greatest gift of life. You can prioritize them with safety, love, understanding, connection and ease.
Our Westernized Culture has accepted exercise and nutrition as important foundations to health and well-being, yet in our school and hospital systems, the food is contributing to the obesity and mental health epidemics. In most insurance-based healthcare practices, there’s no profit, time and space for education, connection, and exploration of all treatment possibilities. The United States’ current conventional system is world-leading for emergency care, yet has failed miserably when it comes to chronic pain and disease, addiction and mental health solutions. The typical physician reports burnout from work and is twice as unhealthy as the average American. From a purely energetic and vibrational perspective, you can see why the health system isn’t working. Do you like to be around people who consistently emit love, joy and enthusiasm, or frustration, fear, hopelessness?
To address the on-going crisis, medical experts are building Integrated, Preventative, Functional, Regenerative, and Direct Primary Care Clinics in every major city across the country. We have also seen the rise of Corporate Wellness, Health Coaches, Bio-Hacking Centers and other alternative medical health models that usually are not covered by insurance carriers. So, for parents it may be important to find a budget to invest in health-related services and continue to seek information on how to secure the best care. By continuing to educate ourselves and seek treatments that lie outside the conventional medical system, my wife and I fight for the current well-being of our four children and invest in their future health.
Relationships are possibly the greatest gift of life as well as the cause of the most human suffering. Given this astronomical weight, it is surprising our schools teach us a minimum of twelve years of science, history, math and geography, and yet very little about health, finance, relationships and making them thrive. If the health and school systems’ strategies for health and well-being are less than optimal, it’s up to our families and communities to foster greater responsibility and possibility down another path.
Unfortunately, seeking mental health support can come with perceptions that may impact one’s personal, social and professional life. Navigating this space can come with even greater challenges for families. It may be easier as a parent to hold accountability with our children by saying “brush your teeth, eat your veggies, do your homework and play outside today,” compared to, “how are you feeling right now in this moment?” As adults, do we talk through family suffering, pains, hurts and challenges from all parties’ perspectives, or do we sweep sore subjects under the rug? How can we shine light on the shadows? How can we face the past and while moving forward? How can we really listen to allow our loved ones to been seen and understood? We must change the perspective of shame that comes with seeking mental health support to one of mindset and brain enhancement, practice, and play.
Entrepreneurs have taken this approach without stigma, regarded by most as a necessity to invest significantly into enhancing their relationships with others (leadership) and themselves (mindset) for optimal performance and business results. The tools and skills learned at these entrepreneurial events that are integrated into daily routines are the same that could benefit anyone. For example, how you treat a growing plant, is how you would treat a dying plant. The right pot, fertilizer, water, sun, and gardener consistently speaking loving words to the plant would create the same result in time. So whether one has anxiety, depression, or type 2-diabetes, the game plan to restore health or a relationship is about the impactful actions we take that create the positive changes.
Perhaps in response to current mental health crises, the newest trends show more medical professionals are acknowledging the importance of alternative health providers or incorporating , Mind, Body, Emotional, and Spiritual Practices, as well as Lifestyle Medicine. Happily, most of these areas can be addressed from the comfort of your own home at little to no cost. What is meant by “lifestyle medicine”? Lifestyle medicine is a medical approach that uses evidence-based behavioral interventions to prevent, treat and manage disease. Many would benefit from the service of a health professional who focuses on lifestyle medicine. These include doctors, advanced practitioners, nurses, health and life coaches, dieticians, nutritionists, therapists and community health leaders, all of whom could help as you navigate a heathy living plan.
The fight for our families’ health and well-being is now. Let’s stay courageous and curious about new strategies to free our minds and open to the wisdom of our hearts. It’s up to you to face the challenges and hurts of the past in a way that creates understanding and a new perspective on how to move forward.