Reflections On Health And Well Being

Image is mine

A friend of mine relocated to Finland to join his wife, and I have been noticing how much better he looks. So yesterday I responded to his status where he was out on a lunch date with her and complimented how good he looks.

He laughed and said he’s in a happy place, unlike when he was back home and had things going haphazardly for him.

He commented on the steady power supply in his new environment and how he now has a sound night's rest void of noise pollution from generators. He said the air is clean, unlike the toxins from generator and car fumes he had to put up with in the past.

He laughed again and said, "Tell me why I will not look better when I’m not stressed." We were chatty for a while, and trust me, I had a lot to reflect on after that conversation.

A lot of times we might think a healthy environment is a clean surrounding, but that’s only a part of it, as pollution can come in different forms.

Sometimes, our environment might be clean, but the surroundings will have a lot of unhealthy noises. Imagine coming home after long working hours to a noisy neighborhood. You’ll try to get some shut-eye to relax your mind, and your neighbors are either hindering that for you with generator sounds, loud music, or loud arguments. Peace of mind becomes a luxury, and while you might not be sick from germs, you are mentally stressed, which will always show on your appearance.

I prioritize my peace of mind such that after a dirt-free environment, the next thing I look out for before an environment can be classified as healthy is a noise-free environment. I also want to inhale clean air, not fumes and foul smells. This is the reason I am always drawn to the village with all its earthy smells, green vegetation, and serene environment.

Away from all the externalities mentioned above, a healthy environment is a home filled with love and free from all forms of abuse. No nagging, no malice, no yelling. A home with effective communication and understanding.

I remember when my colleague’s wife was home for her maternity leave and my colleague was always first to resume at the office, and going home became almost alien to him. Being that I have to lock up at the close of work, I was always closing late because of him.

It didn’t occur to me at first that he was running away from home. I thought he was just being serious with his job. Then his wife finished her maternity leave and went back to her job in another state with their child, and my colleague started being absent from work most days, and if he manages to come, he’s resuming late. Other times he’s opting to work from home. At that point it became clear he was no longer running, as he seemed to have found peace having his home all to himself.

If there’s one thing that I’m grateful for, it’s that I almost do not have to put up with a toxic environment externally and internally. I have a supportive family and a noise-plus-almost-dirt-free environment. Given the trees planted around, as well as its location away from industrial areas and major roads, it almost has that earthy smell, which is always quite soothing.

Sometimes we have people visit us and complain of how quiet our environment is and how they can’t live in such a place lol…. Indeed, one man’s food is another man’s poison.

Unfortunately, like every situation in life, it’s not always rosy, as we are currently battling bad roads in my street, which gather muddy water when it rains. Aside from that, we deal with pollution from the asbestos roof used in roofing our home.

Usually when it rains, we get down with the flu. But surprisingly, when we go out of the house, the flu disappears. After discovering our problem emanates from the roof, we’ve been on it to reroof our house with a “healthier” option.

For my waterlogged street, it’s always quite challenging leaving or returning home when it rains. I even had to get a water-resistant slipper so my footwear doesn’t get bad. As of yesterday, work has commenced, as we had some able-bodied youth filling up the muddy water with sand and stones.

In the past, during our neighborhood meeting, we made an effort for a gutter to be dug at both sides of the street, but given the structure of the fences, some of them might be affected by such construction, so that project was dead on arrival.

Sadly, it rained this morning, and the street is flooded again. Thankfully we are equipped with disinfectant that we use with water and soap in cleaning our legs after dipping them in the dirty water outside.