Every new year I end up making resolutions. I resolve, just like many of you to exercise, to eat better, to live a healthy life, work harder, create goals in life.

The one thing I have resolved this year is not to create resolutions.

Not because I don’t stick to them, but because I realize it is just a rat race that contributes to and builds up new stresses. We resolve to exercise so that we can work harder and longer hours.

As I get older I realize that not only do I need to exercise and eat healthy but I need to relax. It has been universally observed that illness is more likely to occur after major emotional upsets that suppress the immune system. This shatters the natural defense mechanisms of the body.

Stress

Today my challenges and stressors are different from those in the past. I have to cope with shortage of time and increasing demands, an old competitive environment, and struggle for healthy self-image. I’m not talking about fighting or fleeing, which does not help, and is also socially inappropriate.

What do we do in the face of such modern stressors? We feel emotionally disturbed, we feel that, at a deeper level we actually tend to override the stressor and suppress the physical reaction to it. Unknowingly we keep suppressing our responses to the unending list of stressors throughout the day.

Slow down and relax

The world revolves around anxiety and fear of diseases. I have realized that as I get older, I too get wrapped up in these fears. This fear is worse than the disease, as background anxiety can wreck mental health, leading to earlier precipitation of that disease on the physical level.

We really value good health only when we fall sick. That is when we regret leading an unconscious life.

My resolution is to slow down and relax. With an open mind, I want to look back and try to identify and acknowledge any change in lifestyle or thought process, which may be the basic cause for any illness. This will enable me to bring about the necessary changes required for better health.