As we approach Thanksgiving week, let us all be reminded that our health and wellness is a gift not to be taken for granted. Our job at Wholicious Living is to motivate people to eat as healthy as possible, to be active and work our bodies to keep them in shape and even push ourselves to go beyond what we thought was possible. That is called putting in the work and doing what we need to do to earn our health. But can health really be earned?

At any given moment, this precious thing we call life could be taken from us. Our health is the same way. As much as I talk about prevention, sometimes we just don’t have everything within our control. We can take the reigns as much as possible by doing what’s necessary to keep our bodies healthy, but sometimes bad things just happen. We get blindsided by some unforeseen incident like finding out we have a rare form of cancer or a heart defect etc. We pray every day that something like this never happens to any of us.

This is why we feel very fortunate that we are in love with healthy eating and running and lifting weights. We love being outdoors and camping under the stars and backpacking as deep into the wilderness as possible. We’re very thankful that our legs and lungs can take us as far as they do, able to explore new places. We’ve put in millions of miles over the years and hope to do it until we die. It brings us much joy to sweat, to push ourselves to become better, faster and stronger. Not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.

But at the same time, we don’t take any of it for granted. Not a single moment, not a single step. We know that within a split second something could happen and it all could be taken away. One of us could get injured or a life threatening illness could strike. Worse yet, something could happen to one of our family members or friends.

Hopefully, Wholicious Living can be a source to help YOU do the same for your mind, body and soul. To give you enouragment and motivation to make the right choices not only for yourself, but for those around you. We want to be advocates for your health, which is why we support a whole food plant based diet. We want you to be able to do what you love until you die, while maintaining a high quality of life. Quantity doesn’t matter. Quality does. We want you to be able to live in the present moment and be there for your kids, your spouse, your friends alive, able and fully aware and capable. We want to help you help others make the same healthier choices so they too can THRIVE.

So let us continue to encourage you to take care of your body because your body, your health, your life is a gift. Some people aren’t so fortunate to wake up and decide they want oatmeal instead of eggs and bacon because they’re too sick to make their own food. They can’t just put on a pair of running shoes and go. They can’t get out of their wheelchair or hospital bed or make their leg grow back or make the cancer just go away. We owe it not only to ourselves but to those around us to make the healthiest choices possible simply because we can.

Let us all celebrate Thanksgiving with a humble heart, full of gratitude for the gift of health. Because health is a gift and a very precious one at that.

Here’s to eating Wholiciously!

Lindsey and Damian