Edition #26

The Forgotten Span: Joyspan

Health is what allows you to participate in the things that bring you joy.

Prefer to watch/listen instead?
⁠Watch: The Forgotten Span — Joyspan (Youtube)
Spotify
Apple Podcasts

We talk a lot about lifespan.

How long can you live?

Then came healthspan.

How long can you live well?

Both are worth caring about.

But I think we’re missing a third one:

Joyspan.

How much of your life are you actually able to participate in, enjoy, and experience while you’re here?

Because lifespan gives us time.

Healthspan gives us capacity.

But neither guarantees that we actually use those things to live.

And I think this is where health can get a little backwards.

We start exercising so we can have more energy.

We eat well so our bodies can support us.

We sleep, hydrate, recover, track things, improve things.

All good.

But somewhere along the way, the pursuit of health can quietly become the thing our entire life revolves around.

You can’t eat the dinner.

You can’t miss the workout.

You can’t stay out late.

You can’t have the dessert.

You can’t take a week off.

You can’t do anything that might interfere with the perfectly optimized version of yourself you’re trying to create.

And eventually you have to ask:

What exactly am I getting healthy for?

I don’t want health to make my world smaller.

I want it to make my world bigger.

I want to be strong enough to say yes to things.

Fit enough to explore.

Healthy enough to be present with people I love.

Resilient enough to handle difficult seasons.

And secure enough in my habits that one dinner, vacation, late night, missed workout, or piece of cake doesn’t feel like a threat to my identity.

That’s what Joyspan means to me.

It’s not abandoning discipline.

It’s remembering why the discipline exists in the first place.

Your health isn’t the destination.

It’s infrastructure.

It gives you the physical, emotional, and mental latitude to participate more fully in your own life.

Because maybe the goal isn’t to squeeze every possible healthy year out of your body.

Maybe it’s to make sure that while you’re adding years to your life…

you’re still putting life into your years.

More participation. Less perfection.

Santo

P.S. Here’s the video version again if you’d rather hear me talk through the idea:
⁠Watch Joyspan →
Spotify
Apple Podcasts

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