Health and Wealth

When I was a kid, I read the phrase ‘Health is Wealth’. The phrase was known over the years, but only when you are older, the true meaning hits you. Most of my relatives and acquaintances I see who are above 60, their life is predominantly determined by their health. This is not to say wealth is not important, but that extra 10-20% of wealth doesn’t matter all that much.

The title of this diary comes from the netflix series around Blue Zones - the locations around the world where people live the most. The factors which determine the health are the obvious one - food habits, relationships, health care, exercise and physical activities, and motivation. Most people focus on finances when they plan for their retirement, and I’m in no way saying that is not at all important. In fact, a large part of our day and life is already dedicated to ensure we earn, save and invest enough. If anything, these are additional factors which decide the outcome for average cases.

So how do we plan for these? As a start, look to develop good habits. It would be useful to find the bad habits we have, and try to reduce them slowly. It is not easy to get rid of habits in one go, though some people do manage to do it. Slowly reducing the quantum of bad habits is not impossible - let’s say we reduce one habit / activity by 10% for next one month. For me, the vices are eating unhealthy food (mostly junk food) and drinking tea / coffee. I would try to reduce the intake by 10% for the next month.

Another goal is to enjoy life and have good memories. I recently read about a viral email/memo from Elon Musk - who asked the ex-CEO of X in very simple terms ‘what did you manage to accomplish this week’. I feel we all should ask this question to ourselves, if not every week, then at least once a month. A lot of our time goes into mundane and meaningful stuff, we are all so busy that we barely find time to think or spend with ourselves. Pausing and reflecting on our week/month would definitely give us a good perspective on which way we are going in our lives. To me, for 2025, I want to see one new country, and have at least 3 family trips. Traveling to a new country/place is one of most precious experience one can have - we can head / hear all about places, but nothing beats going there in person to actually see and feel.