The One-Eyed Wonder
“A healthy man wants a thousand things."
Sometime around 125 A.D., Roman emperor Hadrian gouged a slave’s eye out with a pen.
Hadrian felt bad about this. So he summoned the slave and told him to ask for a gift.
Hadrian was willing to grant any wish. Money. Land. An eyepatch.
So what did the slave ask for?
He asked for his eye back.
About 500 years before Hadrian lost his temper, Chinese philosopher Confucius flexed his own insight:
“A healthy man wants a thousand things,” Confucius wrote. “A sick man only wants one.”
There is no wealth greater than health.
It’s a bit of a paradox, but the opportunity to be dissatisfied with your life is a privilege.
If your biggest stress is your job, you’re probably healthy.
If your biggest stress is your income, you’re probably healthy.
If your biggest stress is your relationships, you’re probably healthy.
Because when you’re seriously sick or injured?
All you want is to stop being sick or injured.
And if that’s true, here’s the biggest paradox of all:
Your stress is a sign that you’re healthy.
Stress produces anxiety.
But what if stress was an excuse to create gratitude?
What if stress was something to be appreciated?
What if you were able to become aware in your moments of overwhelming stress, and remind yourself that the capacity to worry about non-life-threatening issues is a clear-cut indication that you’re blessed?
An indication that everything is good.
An indication that you’re healthy.
An indication that you’re here.
What if stress could produce tranquility?
“Neat idea, Adam. But you know they call stress the ‘silent killer’, right? You’re dumb.”
Good point. Thanks for bringing it up. Could’ve been nicer about it.
Chronic stress is a precursor to all sorts of health issues — both physical and mental. It is unequivocally unhealthy. Something that should be avoided if possible, and mitigated if not.
But isn’t that the whole point here?
If you can become aware that most stressors are an indicator that you’re living a healthy life full of opportunity, you can flip those stressors on their heads.
You can recognize most stress as a response that’s born out of vitality. If you didn’t have that vitality — if you were seriously worried about your health — most of your stressors would drift away. They’d feel insignificant and frail. You might even be ashamed that you ever fretted over them in the first place.
So next time you feel the weight of stress, let it serve as a reminder to be grateful.
If you have the capacity to worry about day-to-day stresses, you’re a wealthy person.
Because if you have your health…
You have everything.