A Letter from our CEO
I want to start off 2019 by asking you a question. Why is your health important to you? If we are truly honest with ourselves, I think we can all agree at one point or another we have been guilty of taking our health for granted. That is until we find ourselves in a situation where we don’t have our health; maybe it is a short-term illness or a long-term condition, but all of a sudden when we don’t have our health we start deliberating how to get it back.
When I was 19 years old. I was in a terrible car accident and told I was lucky to survive. All of a sudden my health became important to me. Prior to the accident I was the stereotypical young person who felt completely invincible. Then reality sunk in when I couldn’t do the same things I used to do, and some of those issues are still concerns to this day.
My why is that I want to be able to enjoy the best quality of life I can for as long as I can free of long-term illness or disease. I want to be able to see my children grow up and start their families and be able to enjoy being an active part of my grandchildren’s lives.
I genuinely believe health is important to each and everyone of us. I think when we have good health, we simply don’t think about it, we just get busy going about our day to day lives without giving it a second thought. But what if we did start thinking about our health? Have you ever wondered what could or would happen if each of us started to think about why our health is important to us?
And if we all started to think about why our health is important to us, do you think it would impact how we behave in our daily lives? Would it affect how we treat our body in what we choose to eat, how we choose to move, how we choose to manage our stress, how much we choose to sleep?
AND do you think this could have an impact on how we feel both mentally and physically? Do you think it could have an impact on the people closest to us? What about within our community and what about in our work life?
I can confidently say it would. We know wellness works. We also know how we feel and behave impacts those around us at home, at work and in our communities. It is all interconnected and it all starts with our why. The baby steps we choose to take or not take each day that either contribute to our health or not-do eventually have a positive or negative impact on our health.
We are on a mission to prove to you that you have what it takes to manage your health and happiness. Even if you have health issues and need the support of health professionals, you still have a huge role to play to manage your health and yes, you do have what it takes. This is the very reason we created My Viva Plan. It is a program that can guide you to live the life you dream, and it all starts by figuring out why your health is important to you.
I challenge you to figure out your why and then put things into action by setting one goal focused on working on your health.
The more we are aware why our health matters, the more likely it will impact how we choose to live our lives.
By Loreen Wales, CEO and Registered Dietitian (Nutritionist)
