Good Health, Good Health, Good Health

A few days ago, a coworker I'm close to messaged me to say he had a lung infection and was about to be hospitalized. I asked how he was doing and wished him a quick recovery, but something stirred in me too. I'm twenty-three this year. Honestly, apart from big illnesses like cancer, I rarely used to see much variety in sickness around me. The most common things were colds and fevers. But since I started working, illness names I'd never heard of, or even seen, have been coming up more and more in my social circle. That change sometimes makes me anxious. Actually, since high school I've been fairly easy to please. That's probably the conclusion I reached back then talking with my friend Lao Peng: as long as the next meal is covered, I have a bed tonight, and my body isn't clearly unwell, then I'm happy. I still stubbornly believe that. If you don't have to worry about food, clothing, shelter and getting around, there aren't really that many things in life worth being upset about.

Still, it's hard to avoid feeling unwell entirely. However careful you are, a lifetime brings accidents big and small. The worst illness I had as a student was probably from picking at a pimple on my chin until it got infected. A huge hard lump swelled up there, and I had to go back to school and get an IV for two days before it cleared. That feeling is miserable. Every time I get sick, or hurt my body through something I did, a voice of regret echoes in my head: why did I do that, why did I put my body through this? Health takes up a big share of how I weigh things in life. I once wrote that a student only needs to do two things well: civilize the mind and toughen the body. This is the guiding line Mao Zedong put forward in "A Study of Physical Education." Translated into real life, for me it means read good books and keep your body in shape. But in my view, training your body weighs even more. Maybe it's because I haven't read enough, but I've always felt it's fine to be a bit short on learning. Your physical fitness, though, has to be solid. If a person has neither learning nor a strong body, they're truly on the back foot when they enter society. A few days ago I was climbing Mount Emei, and partway up I wanted to head back down because both legs hurt so badly. I was mainly worried that forcing it would seriously affect my daily life afterward. In life, this awareness of risk is where many of my choices start. I put the safety of a thing first, and try to avoid getting hurt as much as I can. For example, when I ride, I mostly go in a group of just one or two others, and I deliberately keep a safe distance from riders I've just met. Once a group goes past three people, I figure there are too many things I can't control. Even with all that caution, I've had two accidental crashes in my cycling life. I have to admit the human body is really fragile. The trouble from each crash took several days to work through. Beyond hobbies like that, lifestyle habits are a long-distance race. Diet, sleep and exercise are probably the three things with the biggest long-term effect on health, and I've been consciously trying to find a balance among them. Diet is the hardest for me to control right now. I know the template for healthy meals, but sticking to it long-term is still a challenge. Luckily, sleep and exercise are already habits. I can guarantee eight hours of sleep a day and keep a regular schedule. This year, besides cardio, I've started trying some strength training. My reason for doing all this is actually simple: I have a deep respect for the possibility of losing my health. Put even more simply, I'm afraid of dying.

Health matters enormously to everyone, rich or poor. For people from wealthy families, money really can help fend off risk, but healthy living habits are still a must. For ordinary people, health is the last fortress.

When you're young, taking care of your health is being responsible to your parents and your partner. When you're old, it's being responsible to your children. It's a question about life, and a very real question about money too. Health has never been a private matter.

So, what's important is worth saying three times.

Good health.

Good health.

Good health.