Imagine the Next Normal -- Redefining Health

Part #6 in a series focused on creating healthier and safer communities for all

I am pushing back HARD against the desire to return to normal.

Instead of wanting to return to what was pre-COVID, I am stepping into the future — the NEXT NORMAL — with the hope that we can create healthier and safer communities for all. Returning to 2019 normal is unacceptable. PERIOD. It is unacceptable because we have all changed, grown, and learned so much living through (read: surviving) a pandemic.

I invite you to explore this NEXT NORMAL with me in this 10-part blog series (yes, I am fired up, inspired, and really excited). If you are jumping in today, please go back and read my inspiration for the series as well as my posts on physical health & access to healthcare, mental health, social & emotional health, community health, and health equity.

Health is not one single thing.

Being healthy is not merely waking up without illness.

Health is a myriad of things - it is both local and global, individual and community-wide. And in order to be healthy or create healthy communities, our understanding of health needs to be expanded.

As I have been thinking about redefining health as we head into the next normal, I keep coming back to this quote —

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that when our health is threatened everything is impacted. Financial markets collapse. Schools are closed. Loneliness sets in. Frustration grows. Violence increases. People die. Opportunities are missed. We spent too much time at our desks. We miss visiting with friends and family.

Health is so connected to everything that without health everything else is nothing.

We need to think of health as a system (or a word with endless definitions) — remember the health(eco)system. I want to illustrate what I mean by asking you to think of a forest (I’m imagining Fangorn from The Lord of the Rings, but the Redwoods is a good image, too).

In this analogy, imagine that we are each an individual tree (I’m imagining myself as a blooming cherry tree).

I would argue (strongly) that in our forest of HEALTH we all need to have strong deep roots in the soil of PREVENTION.

I want (and would argue we all should) to prevent disease before it occurs. I want vaccines that prevent severe illness. I want clean water to prevent the spread of cholera (and other waterborne diseases). I want clean air to prevent asthma attacks from occurring. I want amazing sex education to prevent disease and violence. I want healthcare providers who talk to patients about the dangers of smoking, vaping, drugs, and too much screentime before addiction begins. I want clinics built in communities that lack access to health care. I want a healthcare system that values a healthy individual more than it values someone who is sick.

Like trees in a forest, we each must grow out of a strong foundation of PREVENTION.

We each must strive to be healthy.

But we also must realize that we are just one tree in a vast global forest.

In that forest, lightning could strike a very healthy tree igniting a forest fire that could kill trees for miles around. A fungus could spread from tree to tree causing disease and death. Or a tree that is unhealthy could suck the life out of the trees surrounding it.

The health of the forest is measured by the health of the soil, health of individual trees, health of groups of trees, the health of the environment in the forest (too much brush/tinder could result in a bigger fire), and the ways (healthy or not) in which the forest is used by others.

Health is not a singular thing.

Everything in the forest ecosystem is connected. Shifts and changes in one part of the ecosystem will impact all areas of the ecosystem.

Photo credit.

And so it is with health.

We are all connected.

When someone is unhealthy, it could lead to others becoming ill. Or healthcare costs could increase. Or premature death could occur — leaving children without parents. Or someone is unable to go to work to do their job — teachers are unable to teach, doctors unable to care, bus drivers unable to transport us. Being sick is not just an individual problem. Illness is a health(eco)system problem.

Being healthy is actually a radical selfless act of loving others.

When I think of redefining health in the next normal, I keep coming back to loving others. Of loving my neighbor.

I must take steps to stop the spread of infectious diseases through vaccinations and staying home when I am feeling ill. I can also seek out preventative care — annual physicals, visits with a mental health counselor, cancer screenings, and more — so that I can be diagnosed early. And you must do the same to keep our health(eco)system thriving.

Did you know that early diagnosis of (let’s say) breast cancer not only improves the odds that I will survive but also significantly decreases the costs and stress to the healthcare system? Early diagnosis is key to keeping both me and my community healthy.

Most importantly I believe each of us has a purpose in life. And when we care for ourselves — our physical, mental, and social/emotional health — we can bring our best selves to our communities. For me, this means that when I am healthy I can be a better mom, wife, teacher, friend, community activist, writer, and communicator. And when you are healthy, you can bring the best of yourself to our community. You have something to contribute, to share with me and with others. Being healthy allows you to bring all that you have to make our world a better more beautiful place.

You are needed in our health(eco)system.

Being healthy is a radical selfless act of loving others.

The work that we have ahead of us — to refine health and reframe it as a selfless act of loving your neighbors — involves each of us. To do this work — to even begin to talk about doing this type of work — requires that we each strive to be healthy because when we are healthy we are our best selves. And when we are at our best, we will be positioned to love our neighbors and create healthy communities.

We are all public health.