topic: 202111290754- Health is a Spiritual Problem alias: tags:#permanent-note
My writing (250-300 words)
In 2018, I walked 1000km in 40 days.
I decided to take the northern way to Santiago de Compostella. I started at border of France and Spain, and just starting walking. I walked 30km a day. I walked through rain. I walked in sun. I wanted to prove to myself that I would be able to finish the challenge.
In the end, the 1000km didn’t matter at all.
At the end, I felt healthy because I had never been happier
I lost 10kg by the end of my walk.
I started at 72kg and dropped down to 62kg. But I didn’t care. I had walked 1000km. But it didn’t matter. I just felt so completely happy to have walked for 40 days. I could’ve done half of that and still felt just as great. I met fantastic people who walked with me. I was the happiest I had even been
That was when I clearly saw how happiness comes before health, not the other way around.
By plunging into my being- instead of my goals- I found health
I don’t like to walk- “I am a walker”
Walking is who I am. Turns out I’m just as happy walking 1km in 10 minutes as I am walking 1000km in 40 days. The distance doesn’t matter and the goal is just a number. The trap people fall into is: When I reach my health goals, then I’ll be happy.
But what I learned is that by focusing my identity, I get to be happy, and then health follows.
Your health is a practice not a product
The trap is that you’ll always be looking for the next thing to make you healthy:
But that’s a bottomless pit:
- “What is the next peak I can hit?”
- “How can I keep optimizing for health?”
- “What new gadget can change the game for me?”
Shift to identity. Fill this in. I am a ”_____” (walker/climber/crawler/etc.), then health comes to you.