What’s Your Idea of Being “Healthy”?

What is your idea of being “healthy”?

While we all have a different perspective on what the word HEALTH means to us, we got a chance to catch up with mental health experts to help us figure out what kinds of routines and healthy daily habits help us keep a well-balanced lifestyle. On a personal perspective, they shared their own ideas of being “healthy.”

“I do what I call the “must-do’s,” says psychologist Renato Pérez about the non-negotiables that he keeps. “I never question whether I should brush my teeth in the morning, I just do it because it’s part of my daily routine. So I treat my daily rituals the same way, I don’t even question it.”

If a mental health expert has a strict daily routine to help him navigate his daily life, think about what we can do. Here are the steps that Renato Perez incorporates in his daily rituals that help him thrive.  

• Say 10 things to be grateful for
• Pray: Thank God for everything and hope for a great day
• Meditate
• Incorporate physical activities: Yoga, pushups, runs, hikes
• Read one page of a book a day. No more no less.

Now, we also spoke to Dr. Veroshk Williams about these habits. What’s her take on it?

“Being healthy really means to be happy, to me. I feel like it’s an all around wellness experience, as I like to call it, and I think it has evolved over the years because when I was in college I thought of being healthy as being athletic or fit. In the later part of my 20s I integrated nutrition. I was focused on being healthy by consciously eating,” she says, adding that being happy and healthy goes beyond any physical means. 

“Now, I expanded that view to just being happy because I feel like being healthy is so malleable and so dynamic that if we identify it as what brings happiness to us, we’re gonna be as close to what we think is being healthy.”

Two things that she can’t miss in her daily routine:

• Sleeping enough (6-8 hours a day they recommend)
• Hydration
• Being happy

“If you depart from that basic/ universal health view of ‘healthy’ and just integrate happiness, that’s a perfect combo for me.”

What’s your idea of being healthy?

We want you to feel empowered to take the important steps that bring you closer to your own definition of “healthy.” Check out our latest interview on My Health Agenda with Vasilos, and LGBTQ activist who shared his personal, insightful journey and shared a message of encouragement, hope, and love.