We often do less than we should, until we are forced to do all that we can. Sometimes we don’t take care of our bodies until there is a health scare, or take care of our finances until we are in the red. Worse yet, sometimes we don’t take care of each other until it is too late. Proactive nurture and care can circumvent those moments of drought in our lives, paving the way for greener pastures in our future. ~Yehuda Berg

How true is that?!

I see this all the time working in the health and wellness industry. We don’t want to eat healthy until we are diagnosed with diabetes. We don’t want to work out until bikini season roles around. We don’t want to meditate until we are faced with tragedy and are desperately seeking some answers and peace.

Of course these statements are generalized and certainly do not pertain to everyone. But I think you’d agree that in general our culture is not proactive about our well being. We tend to push our bodies pass their limit until they start to break down. And then we run to the doctor hoping that he can give us some pill that will make us feel better in 24-48 hours.

Many people do not know this but one of the founding principles of acupuncture and Chinese medicine was the concept of preventative care. You paid the doctor to keep you healthy with regular acupuncture treatments and herbs, and if you got sick the doctor would treat you for free. The doctor could treat illness, but his main focus was to keep you well.

This is a concept that seems to be somewhat lost in our modern society. Even though we have more knowledge and recourses to keep us healthy then we ever have before. Think about it, thanks to the internet we can get a variety of health question answered in 1.2 seconds. There are billions of healthy recipes and guides on good nutrition. Tons of free exercises and workouts through youtube. And thanks to amazon you can have virtually any book shipped to you in 2 days. Not to mention most modern towns contain everything you need to stay healthy. In my town alone you can find an acupuncturist and a chiropractor on every corner, 5 organic grocers plus 3 farmers markets, and a gym every mile. If you want to be healthy you have all the resources and support you need, no excuses.

But why is is that the majority of us are not more proactive when it comes to our health? Why is it that we wait until it’s too late even though we have all the resources we need? Maybe it’s because most people believe it will be too hard to change. They associate getting healthy with hours at the gym and eating nothing but bowls of lettuce. That’s obviously a gross exaggeration, but that’s the type of  picture people create in their head when they don’t want to do something. Blow it out of proportion and make it seem 10 times more extreme then it is. Living a healthy lifestyle might seem too costly to some. And not going to lie, it can be. But I guarantee it will save you a lot of money later on in life on doctors appointments and medications. Many also think that their health is the responsibility of their doctors and not their own. They won’t change their lifestyle until their doctor tells them they have to. Newsflash, your health is in your own hands, no one else’s.

It’s time to start taking responsibility, time to be proactive when it comes to your health, and time to start valuing preventive care.

When someone comes to see me for acupuncture I always emphasize the importance of maintenance treatments. Once we’ve treated the main condition I always advise patients to come back once a month for a tune up. Your monthly tune up is preventative care, helping to keep your body in check. It’s also a way of valuing your health and respecting your body. You’re feeling good so you are going to keep getting acupuncture so that you continue to feel good. And it’s the same principle for all other forms of preventative care. Eating healthy is preventative care. Exercise is preventative care. And learning ways to reduce your stress are forms of preventative care.

So my challenge to you this week is to take an honest look at your health. Are you ignoring it? Neglecting it? And just take one proactive step. It could just be going for a long walk. Maybe try adding in some more vegetables to your dinner. Or even just sit in silence for 5 minutes and do some deep breathing. Once you take one proactive step it will be a lot easier to take another. And if you are already living a healthy lifestyle, awesome keep it up! Maybe you can inspire someone else in your life to do the same.