Years ago, I asked an “adult” friend of mind this hypothetical question;
“Imagine that there were two magical buttons in front of you with one button representing a lifetime of ‘great wealth’, the other a lifetime of ‘total happiness.’
Now if you were allowed to press just one of the buttons and reap the rewards, which one would you choose?”
Well he thought about it for a nanosecond and said "Obviously I would choose the wealth button."
"But wait a minute" I said, "If you choose happiness it doesn't mean that you won't be wealthy, it just means that it's guaranteed that you’re going to live a happy life."
So he thought about what I said a little further and said, to my amazement, "no, I would still choose the wealth button."
I couldn’t just let this go so I said, "no, no, no, look, look, if being wealthy was actually necessary for your happiness, then obviously that would be part of what you would get for choosing happiness. But the point is, you're guaranteed to be happy whether you're rich or poor, so who cares?"
Well at this point I was sure he would change his mind but no, he was still adamant that he would take guaranteed wealth, because I guess to him, the thought of being poor and happy was just totally depressing.
Now although that was just a hypothetical question, I can't tell you how many times I thought about his answer, because the truth is, I found it very unsettling .... and you know what, the more I thought about it the more I realized that his choice may not be all that uncommon.
For example, how many people choose to spend the greatest part of their lives in pursuit of financial health, a job or a career, worthy pursuits, no doubt, but they fail to consider making a concerted investment into their most valuable possession ... their physical health?
As a result, so many people are going to go into their sixties, seventies and eighties with a bountiful nest egg, but their health will be all but gone.
They'll have all the money they desire to travel the world and do almost anything else they wish, but they'll be too frail and physically weak to do anything.
For all intents and purposes their life is over, and no amount of money can compensate.
Look, there’s no glory in being the wealthiest person in a long-term care facility, but nonetheless, if we don't make the choice for health, when we have that choice to make ... that may very well be our fate.
But the good news is that most of us have an enormous amount of control over our health, and whether our future health is going to be good or bad. And the fact is, it’s just a matter of what we choose to do, when we have that choice to make.
