Lying helplessly on the bed in the emergency room with artificial life support, waiting for RTPCR results to confirm me Covid-19 positive, I wondered, “What does it mean to live a healthy life?”
ALWED EKKA
This question, fascinates me, and at
the same time teases me about my understanding of what it actually means. Sometimes I think I understand what it means to live a healthy life, yet other times, I wonder, whether what I know makes any sense at all.
A Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit
To live a healthy life, first of all, we need to desire it. We have to nurture three important faculties: body, mind, and spirit. In order for both mind and spirit to function at its optimum level, the body must be healthy through regular exercise and good diets. Mind must be constantly renewed, educated and well-informed through continuous learning, and the spirit must be nourished daily through spiritual practices for fostering faith & love.
I confess, I was leading a healthy, normal, and natural life. I thought, a healthy life consists of doing a regular exercise like going to gym
or having healthy diets, and abstaining from alcohol or smoking. And as naive as I could be,
I religiously observed this strict discipline and maintained the healthy lifestyle ever.
I am a great fan of home made food, thus eating outside unhealthy food was limited. As a teetotaler, I never consumed alcohol or cigarettes in my life actively, for a simple reason, I don’t like the smell. Somehow, I cannot stand it.
The Definition of a Healthy Life
Anyway, I thought, at least, I have no life- threatening habits. Of course, I was healthy, strong, muscular with six packs, and with perfect weight, until I fell under the spell of corona in the second wave on May 5, 2021. I was rushed to Sakra hospital Bangalore in the ambulance, when the saturation level dropped below 80.
Lying helplessly on the bed in the emergency room with artificial life support, waiting for RTPCR results to confirm me Covid-19 positive, I wondered, “What does it mean to live a healthy life?”
The actual definition of a healthy life, suddenly changed, when the whole planet
was under the attack by invisible enemy. I thought I was physically strong and healthy, notwithstanding, my healthy body succumbed to this deadly virus.
It attacked me pretty badly. It almost took my life away. I was on life support for more than three weeks on fifteen liters of artificial oxygen 24×7. My family called to bid their last goodbye, while I was in medical covid ICU for the second time. There was no hope for me to reclaim my life back since I had developed a serious lung infection on the right side. And the suffering was unbearable.
Hearing my thirteen-year-old son’s voice
on the phone, while lying on the bed in ICU,
I couldn’t control my tears. A nurse who was holding the phone to my ear, wiped my tears. Slowly, gathering my strength, I assured my son who had been crying for weeks, “Daddy will be all right. I love you.”
After hearing my son’s voice, I noticed, a volcano like energy erupting inside, urging me not to give up the fight. I still don’t understand, where did this reserve strength come from?
I remember, while working out in the gym, there’s always a reserve strength dormant in the body, which is tapped at the time of lifting heavy weight. I quickly composed myself. And then, I became determined to get out of MICU as earliest as possible. My chest pain gradually subsided.
I had strength to lie in a prone position, which literally increased my saturation level.
And finally, I had conquered the virus. I
was shifted to the ward, and after a day or two,
I was off the artificial oxygen. I was breathing the natural air once again for the first time. As
a newly born baby, I didn’t understand what it meant to breathe, but now I understand, what it means when the baby cries out loudly soon after the birth.
I got discharged from the hospital and after three months, I have completely regained my health. Now, I am normal, healthy, and strong though I had lost nearly 15 kilograms.
So What Constitutes a Healthy Life?
It’s a tough question to crack. As I
understand now, a healthy life does consist of aforementioned things. Had I not observed a healthy lifestyle, or desired a healthy body, mind and spirit, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to recover from Covid-19.
Living a healthy life is a personal choice. When there is grit, determination and a strong will, there’s a promise of healthy life. A healthy life means, even when you fall down, hurt or under the weather, you don’t necessarily have to give in. You have to unleash your fighting spirit. As long as illness, depression, failure, loss or death visit you time to time, so also the strength, determination and power tag along with it.
And, nothing can conquer a person with a purpose, who is leading a meaningful life. If you have healthy habits like daily walk, working out, eating healthy food, and nourishing mind & spirit, you will surely muster strength to overcome any life-threatening challenges.
For a Healthy, Long Life, Create & Contribute Something
I strongly believe, we enjoy a healthy life when we engage ourselves in some kind of creativity— art, music, writing, volunteering, helping, cooking or gardening. The art pieces or sketches that we create; the lyrics or the music one makes; the poem, essay, article, story or a book one writes, and the volunteer work we undertake, certainly contribute towards a healthy as well as a long life. Therefore, invest as little as 10-15 minutes in some kind of creative work regularly, and you will be surprised to find yourself healthy, happy as well as having a long life.
To sum up, never ever ignore three important areas of life—body, mind, and spirit. Maintain
a healthy body through good exercise and diets; feed the mind with uplifting and empowering books, information or inspiring messages; and never forget to increase your faith and love that come from spiritual practices—meditation, daily prayer or visiting some holy places.
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