Common versus normal

I read a recent survey suggesting that more than half of the overweight population wrongly believe they are a healthy weight and it got me thinking. How often do we confuse what is common with what is ‘normal'.

You only need to look around to see what has become common in our society. It is becoming more and more common to be overweight. It is becoming quite common to have a poor diet. It is becoming very common for people to not exercise enough and even more common for people to be over stressed.

The other common theme running through our society is chronic illness. Strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, cancers and even back pain are all becoming increasingly common ailments. It is becoming so common that people are starting to think it is ‘normal'. Well it just inst true.

The only common thing about all of these chronic illnesses is their cause. These are all ‘lifestyle' diseases. They are not caused by germs. They are not caused by genes (our genes have changed very little over the last 100,000 years yet these diseases are skyrocketing) and they are not caused by bad luck. They are caused by what you do.

So what is ‘normal'? Well ‘normal' is a long, happy, healthy life full of energy and vitality. Short of a significant event like a traumatic accident or a genuine genetic disorder there is no reason why you can't have a life like this too.

So stop blaming all your woes on bad luck, bad germs and bad genes and start taking charge of your health. Get out and exercise, start making changes to your diet and start managing your stress levels and you too can have a long, happy, healthy life full of energy and vitality. Your life is what you make it.