Survive or Thrive
Too often those involved in fitness and health confuse surviving with thriving. We automatically assume that if something is working (or apparently not harming us) we are good. If it is working for the time being without noticeable detriment then we are healthy. If we are surviving then we are thriving.
A person drinks soda and eats potato chips all day and feels okay. He is surviving, but is he thriving? Even if he is thriving, what are the hidden costs? Will he be thriving five, ten, twenty years later? At what level is he thriving? Thriving is a continuum. Could he be thriving even more vibrantly? Is there a limit for thriving?
What about different situations such as working out way more than necessary or getting very few hours of sleep. These people are “getting by” and may even feel terrific for a while, but what is really going on? In certain situations it may be helpful to view the situation from a survival, "what-can-I-get-away-with" viewpoint. What is the worst you can do and have at least some semblance of health or enough health? That viewpoint is extremely interesting from a research scientific standpoint and will have answers that can be highly practical for certain populations or instances (think survival, emergencies, college, military, traveling business executive, etc.). There are levels and gradients to thriving. How much is enough? What level should you strive for? What even is health? Food for thought.
Health has different meanings to different people and will vary from person to person depending on their abilities, current goals, or circumstances currently going on in their lives. The meaning will even vary within a person’s life. Training and nutrition plans should be structured around that. However, as a whole, people trade their health in for “getting by”. People sacrifice thriving for surviving and may not even be aware of it.
People sacrifice thriving for surviving and may not even be aware of it! What does health mean to you? What life circumstances are going on at this particular moment that influences your health and training goals? How are you “getting by”? What changes can you make to thrive?
