Responsibility

A couple years ago my husband and I were on our annual vacation to the Caribbean. We were headed off our resort in Jamaica to a biking excursion in the Blue Mountains.

We had been waiting on the bus 10 minutes or so when something on the radio caught my attention. It was a PSA about physical activity. The last sentence of the script was a bit shocking and also thought provoking.

“Remember, your health is your responsibility.”

This was shocking because I’m not sure you would ever hear a phrase like this in the US, certainly not on a radio PSA.

Personally, I truly believe this statement. Unfortunately, we live in a society of blame. Obesity and the related diseases are blamed on the fast food companies, attitudes and unhappiness are blamed on how we were raised, and the inability to lose those extra pounds is the diet’s fault, not our own.

We often like to assign the terms ‘failure’ and ‘success’ to eating right and being active. By doing this we make being healthy something that is a goal to be achieved or an option in our lives. People (myself included) like to state that a diet failed or a new exercise program didn’t work.

Regardless of how hard our environment and past might make it to choose the healthy option, it is still our personal responsibility to do so.

If you think about it, it’s actually quite empowering to know that we have this control over our health. I try each day not to lose site of that power and surrender it to fake foods and miracle cures.

I wish that we could incorporate the message above into more of our health focused initiatives in the US. There seems to be this fear related to it. Like people don’t really believe it or it is the wrong thing to say.

I remember returning after that trip and sharing the phrase with many people I worked with. The attitude was one that seemed to express – yeah, that is true, but we can’t say that.

Why not? Why can other countries promote this and we can’t? Are people so caught up in wanting to blame others for their health that they would be infuriated to hear someone tell them this? Sadly, I think there are some that would be.

I think the key is to focus on the fact that this isn’t a curse, it is power. There are few things we have the power to control in this world. And yes, there will always be those cases where healthy people get horrible diseases. However, when it comes to things like energy, vitality, positive attitudes and simply being healthy, these are all immediate positive reinforcements that we have the control to bring about by making healthy choices.

Being healthy and protecting ourselves from disease, choosing real fresh foods and making the time to prepare them, and being active daily is our responsibility. Not the doctor’s, the food company’s or our family’s, it is ours.

Photo of Blue Mountain Bike Tour – Ocho Rios, Jamaica