By Bill Quain
This is the fifth week in my “Money, Sunny and Honey” series. Money, sunny and honey are the three categories of your life that you must get right if you want to be successful. Money, the subject of my previous three columns, is easy, right? You need it, and you need a fair amount of it in order to be successful. “Honey”, which we’ll be talking about in a few weeks, is your relationships. Clearly, to be successful, you need strong, dependable relationships. This week we’ll talk about “sunny”, and why you need it to play the hand you are dealt. By the way, if you want to catch up on the entire money, sunny and honey concept, you can check out my past columns at www.shorelocalnews.com.
Sunny: physical, mental, and emotional health
Defining “sunny” is a little more complex than defining your financial situation (money) or your long-term relationships (honey). Sunny is your physical, mental, and emotional health. These are the things that give you a “sunny” disposition or outlook on life. Let’s talk about the three subcategories of “sunny”:
- Physical Health
Get yourself healthy by eating right, exercising, staying away from drugs, not drinking too much, and doing simple things like washing your hands and getting enough sleep. Now, this may involve making a change or two.
About three years ago, after my cousin had a heart attack, I followed his advice and completely gave up eating processed sugars. Wow, what a difference! As a long-distance runner, I had been getting shooting pains in my legs, mostly from inflammation. Cutting out sugar not only took care of that problem, but I also lost 25 pounds! Building and maintaining physical health is an integrated practice. Ignoring just one of the practices for physical health can create a cascading effect.
- Mental Health
Mental health is a mixture of controllable and uncontrollable factors. If your body has a chemical imbalance, you have to deal with that. If you have issues in your life that require professional help, seek out that help. That said, you can often improve your mental health by maintaining and building your physical health. Hey, it isn’t a guarantee, but being physically fit is a big help. Remember, mental health is a matter of balance. Try to lower your stress levels, and keep your energy levels high.
- Emotional Health
Some people will say that emotional health is a part of overall mental health. I don’t see it that way. To me, emotional health is almost all controllable. We largely choose our attitudes and actions. Emotional health comes from maturity and experience. It is learned.
Having said that, we are often the products of our upbringing and environments. However, no matter where we come from, we can choose where we are going. An emotionally healthy person is stable, dependable, caring, and honest. They bring calm and trust to situations.
What about the cards you’re dealt?
In life, nothing is fair. We all get dealt a set of cards, and we must play the cards we’re dealt. We can’t discard them. If you’ve ever played five-card poker, you know that you can throw away up to three of the five cards you’re dealt, and hope for a better “draw.” If you have two aces, a three, a nine and a jack, you might keep the aces and hope to draw some more. But, that’s not how real life goes. It definitely isn’t how “sunny” is built!
If you are born to a poor family, or a broken home, or have health problems, those are your cards. Importantly, however, it isn’t where you have to finish! Of all the three categories necessary for success, “sunny” (physical, mental and emotional health) is the thing you must adjust in order to have money or honey.
Success: Maximize the hand you’re dealt!
I’m blind. No, that’s not an exaggeration. I am really blind!
When my hand was dealt, I got a joker. However, I made a decision in my life. I was going to play that joker as if it was a wild card.
Do you know what a wild card is? In a poker game, the dealer can declare a certain type of card as a wild card, which means it can be used as any card you want it to be. If you have a hand with four aces in it, plus a wild card, you have an unbeatable five aces!
With the hand I was dealt, there are things I would never be able to do, like drive a car. However, not being able to see changed my life in many positive ways. It made me determined to build a life that was maximally adapted to my disability. I became a college professor, which is the best and easiest job for a blind person to have. Even more importantly, it is a very satisfying job. At 71, I’m still employed, making good money and working with energetic young people. It’s all because I turned that joker into a wild card and played it well.
So tell me, what’s your deal?
How have you maximized your “sunny”? Were you dealt a full house or a throwaway hand? Share your thoughts and experiences by shooting me an email at bill@quain.com. I’d love to hear from you, and I’ll bet the way you played your hand will be interesting to other people as well.
As I say each week, “I’ll see ya in the papers!”
Bill is a Professor in Stockton University’s Hospitality Management Program. He is the author of 27 books, and a highly-respected speaker. Even though he is almost totally blind, Bill is a long-distance runner and runs the Ocean City Half Marathon each year. He lives in Ocean City with his wife Jeanne, and his Guide Dog Trudy. Visit www.billquain.com or email him at bill@quain.com.
