It’s impossible to accomplish anything worthwhile in life without a strong driving force, a strong why. And carving out a healthy life in this world of unhealthy temptation requires a particularly powerful one.   

So, let’s lay out the key reasons why healthy living is so important. If you’re struggling to make healthy lifestyle choices, my sincere hope is that you’ll find a strong enough why at one of these three levels: 

Individual

Simply put, being healthy gives you more life – both in terms of quantity and quality. 

Obviously, healthy living will increase your life expectancy. But adding years to your life is of no use if those years are spent in a special home where you’re reduced back to the dependence level of a toddler.

Indeed, the true value of consistent healthy living is not that it will add years to your life, but that it will add good years to your life. Good health habits will help you age gracefully so that you can enjoy life all the way to a dignified and painless passing.

The latter half of life is the time when lifelong health habits show their effects most clearly. But let’s not forget about the first half. 

Experiencing life through a fit and youthful body is much like experiencing driving through a top-of-the-line sports car. Like driving, every aspect of living becomes better if you combine beautiful sleek lines with a high power/weight ratio.

We just have one life. Choosing to experience it through a heavy, unfit and unhealthy body just makes no sense. Don’t dilute your precious gift of life with unhealthy lifestyle choices. 

Close relationships

The global self-inflicted lifestyle disease epidemic is causing tons of heartache and pain – not just to those directly afflicted, but also to their loved ones. On top of the emotional trauma, it can also have serious financial consequences for your family.

So, if living a healthy life for yourself is not enough motivation, why not do it for those close to you? 

On the positive side, excellent health makes it much easier to contribute to your close relationships. If you’re in top form, chances are that your relationships will also be.  

Also give some thought to the subconscious influence you have on those around you. They say we’re the average of the ten people closest to us. If you look after yourself, those close to you may just follow suit.

Global

Poor health is costing society trillions and trillions of dollars. 

From a macroeconomic point of view, unhealthy living is much like paying a bunch of people (the instant pleasure industry) to come and smash up your house and then paying another bunch of people (the healthcare industry) to try and patch it back together again. Totally senseless…

Aside from the enormous direct expenditures, poor health also brings tremendous indirect costs in terms of lost productivity. 

At this critical time in history when we’ll make or break the world for future generations, we can ill afford such terrible waste. In fact, if you want to do your little bit to save the world, building a truly healthy lifestyle is the very best place to start. 

Thinking about this stuff might not be comfortable, but a truly powerful why rarely is. 

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss how to use this source of motivation in those crux moments when you must choose between the path to optimal health and the path to self-destruction. 

See you then!