Article September 22, 2003 Issue

SHORTENING the journey to health

By Richard Bergenheim

I was in an office near Grand Central Station, New York, when the lights went out last month. So that night I joined the millions of New Yorkers who were walking home.

Some people lived just a few blocks away. My trip, door-to-door, was about seven miles. That was a good hike, but for some friends, my home was their halfway point, and they still had a couple of hours more walking to go. For most people, although the walks were certainly long, the destination was, nevertheless, clear — home. You knew it was there, and you just kept walking until you reached it.

Sometimes the road to health doesn't seem so straightforward. Without a clear road map, you may feel that you are simply walking from hope to discouragement and back again. It doesn't matter whether you are talking about economic health, freedom from pain, or emotional health. When the trouble seems chronic, discouragement and frustration are frequent companions. You may doubt whether health actually exists. Indeed you may be told authoritatively that you can't expect to have it anymore—that you simply have to adjust and cope with your difficulties.