The Coronavirus has been a challenge for so many, and it’s obvious why. But those challenges have not only been economic. Indeed, they have also provoked a discussion about health and wellness that was long overdue. Helen Lee Schifter has been sharing and promoting the need for more people to value health and wellness for awhile now. Unfortunately her continued calls have for the most part fallen on deaf ears for awhile now.
But now with a health pandemic of such magnitude and epic proportions having taken effect and creating such mass havoc and destruction, the dialogue has certainly changed. People are now prepared to listen in ways they simply weren’t previously. This is certainly heartening to witness; but it is also quite concerning that it took a health pandemic of the size, scope and nature of the Coronavirus to spur this important conversation and get people to be attentive to the need to change their attitudes toward these important subjects.
Helen Lee Schifter believes that this is a function of what our culture and by extension society seem to emphasize. Instead of highlighting the value of leading a healthy lifestyle, too many glossy magazines and the like glorify entrepreneurial lifestyles. Such lifestyles have no “turn-off” function, as it requires by definition for one to work for themselves.
The glorification of monetary success is certainly not unique to American society. Indeed, it is an international phenomenon. There is nothing wrong with promoting work ethic and the value of career development, especially among young people. But such an issue certainly does exist when it comes to pursuing professional and commercial endeavors at the expense of one’s health. And that’s at the heart of this important conversation.