Next week I'm going to dive into some of my goals for 2024 so I'm putting the cart before the horse with today's newsletter but...hear me out.

One of the themes for 2024 is going to be about raising the bar of expectation for myself as a professional, a partner and a parent.

This year I want to do better in general and a big part of that is recognizing where I've come up short in the past and why.

I want to be able to set such a strong example for my children so they're that much more comfortable in their own skin. Having a strong foundation can be an absolute game changer.

But the thing is I don't want them to benefit from it alone, I want for them to transcend the lessons so that when it becomes their opportunity they'll be ready to lead.

I've been meditating on the idea of generational health. A play on the conversations in society about generational wealth; framed around mental wellness instead.

Generational Wealth

You read about it. Hear it on the lips of gurus and Influencers.

It's either a badge of honor or a high watermark being strived for. Or an albatross depending on how you got it.

Which is reasonable. Although I think the smirk of capitalism is hiding in there, more often than not the desire seems to be well intended.

I like the idea of striving to lighten the load for future generations. I know the benefits I've been incumbent to aren't nearly as substantial as others but also nothing to take for granted either; their impact has been massive to say the least.

At the same time, for those who haven't had that same fortune, the road is much harder. Which is simply to say that the lasting effect of anything passed down from generations before tends to have an outsized impact on who we are, what we become and everything in between.

Generational wealth as a concept and vehicle doesn't come naturally; especially for those who haven't benefited from having its impact and structure taught through experience.

The challenge is how to teach generational wealth without the wealth to model it around. How can you help someone build wealth when they're from a position of historic economic deficit?

In that same paradigm, those challenges transfer to mental health and physical wellbeing too.

Generational Health or A Slow Clap for Me, Myself and I

So when I think about health and wellness for myself I quickly go to thinking about why health and wellness is important for me.

Admittedly, this is something that's lived rent free in my mind for a long time but also something I've only recently started to prioritize and seek to better understand.

I think, like most human-beings, I have a reasonable fear of losing my health, losing mobility and generally being deprived of the enthusiasm that makes life worth living.

But it's also deeper than that. I often worry about the decline in my personal health because I'm a parent and fully aware of the impact it will have on my children.

It's interesting how something that will benefit me isn't enough to motivate me to make a change but the fear of inflicting something on people I love is.

While it would be nice to claim that magnanimous throne as someone driven by benevolence I think the reality is that I'm terrified of having to break the bad news to people I love. Selfishness wins again!

The funny thing is, so many of these internal dialogues, battles and feuds could be so much simpler if I'd had a better understanding of what personal health really was in the first place.

An unfortunate general truth that we all grapple with in today's society, and in particular for us Americans, is that we aren't really given the tools to develop healthy habits. In fact, we're often marketed into believing the personal decisions we make for our benefit while we actively dig our graves.

Selling Them On Agency

I know this sounds macabre and dire but in fact that's pretty damn close to the truth. Everyday we're distanced a little bit further from the information to make good decisions. We're encouraged to trust in institutions that do not serve us or our personal well-being and instead work in the employ of profit for corporations that are too big to fail.

We are engineered to eat nutrient lean processed food. Which engineers our bodies to be weak and susceptible. Which leads us into the health care profit centers and onto the pharmaceutical P&L statements. And on, and on, and on.

Before you say it let me. I sound like a conspiracy theorist to many. To the enlightened? I'm just telling it how it actually is.

It's Got to Stop (START) Somewhere

Which brings me back to my point of fostering Generational Health.

The truth is that I'm grateful for this awareness and I'm taking account of what it means to make changes that are impactful and lasting.

Grateful to recognize this distortion in my perceptions and recognize that I have ALL of the power to make those changes and if I'm willing to do the work find the correct information to make fact based plans.

The power is in my hands to be the catalyst to start the Generational Health trend in my own family and that in doing so I can set off a tidal wave of future generational health advocates.

Of course, we won't call it that because that's cap. We'll call it what it is and should have always been: a healthy, balanced and happy life.

This was a rant, but sometimes we need it. We need to say it and we need to hear it. If this blog post feels radically different from what you're doing on a daily basis I hope it gives you some food for thought.

If this post resonates with ideas that swirl inside of your head on a daily basis I'd encourage you to formulate how you can share your ideas in a positive way that will add to the conversation.

It's going to take a lot of reaching across the aisle to figure out how to get to a healthier place as a society and it's going to take every single one of us to make it a reality. 

But it's 100% possible. You just gotta start somewhere small, have faith and persevere. 

This is Ground Control

-Patrick