Taking Health for Granted

Hi! How are you?

No, I mean it literally... how are you feeling?

My inclination when someone asks how I am is to say "fine." or "I'm good." What I really should do in response is to think about how I feel and come up with some measurement that is meaningful. I used to work with a guy who would answer the question with something like "I'm about a 5." Without the scale and context (5 out of 10 is not so good, but is much better than 5 out of 100!), the number is just that -- a number.

I take good health for granted. Until I get sick, or have sore muscles from exertion, or I have a headache. Then when I feel better after feeling poorly, I really feel good. So I think the moral of the story is that we sometimes have to feel badly in order to appreciate the many days that we feel well.