Healthy vs. Happy

Healthy vs. Happy
English Composition 121
Tonya Lavigne

Never thought as a child that at the age of thirty I would be exercising daily or counting calories. I never imagined I would be writing this paper in college at Ashford University. But, I always believed that I was not smart enough for college because at the time I was around a lot of negative people. Once I met my husband and was able to get away from the negative. I, then seen myself as being smart enough for college, so here I am writing this essay. In this essay I will explain how to balance being happy; as well as being healthy. Also, explain how to succeed being happy, along with being healthy.
There is a growing sociological trend for what people need to consider when engaging in healthier behaviors. Unfortunately, many people are struggling to find an effective combination of healthy and happy in their lives. As these two concepts interrelate, people will seek to find a proper balance, which is a difficult balance to understand. There is two important steps to take that will help out in the in leading people in the right direction. The direction towards being healthy, as well as being happy.
The first step in accepting this balance is to understand what it means to be healthy. “Health is a complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Nordqvist, 2009). By resolving the conflicts that can impact physical, mental and social well-being people are able to properly establish themselves as healthy individuals. This can sometimes be a lengthy task, especially considering many people lack the required means to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The second step is to understand what it means to be happy. The inner concept of happiness is difficult to understand; however, all people continue to venture towards their own personal pursuit of happiness. The road to happiness is complex and has many road blocks. “The bluebird of happiness is not just going to come and land on your arm. Occasionally you have to fake it until you make it. Miserable people have tendencies to have miserable faces, which makes people avoid them, which creates a vicious cycle” (Chaudhuri, 2012). With this in mind, many people work hard to force themselves to be happy and sometimes what makes people feel happy is drastically unhealthy behavior.
While people seek to manage the complex interrelation of happy and healthy, decisions must be made at a certain point to place higher value of one over the other. This value changes for each person, also can depend on the situation. However, this interrelation is impossible to ignore and everyone must decide between being healthy and being happy.

References
Chaudhuri, A. (2012). What does it mean to be happy? Psychologies magazine, from http://www.psychologies.co.uk/self/what-does-it-mean-to-be-happy.html
Nordqvist, C. (2009, May 21). What is health? What does good health mean? Medical news today, retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150999.php

References: Chaudhuri, A. (2012). What does it mean to be happy? Psychologies magazine, from http://www.psychologies.co.uk/self/what-does-it-mean-to-be-happy.html Nordqvist, C. (2009, May 21). What is health? What does good health mean? Medical news today, retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150999.php