I recently received an email asking how “health” fit into my life. It made me think about the premise of the question.

Health doesn’t fit into anyone’s life. It defines how we live every day.

Health is not going to the gym, or having juice, or eating “clean.” Those are choices. Health is deeper. It keeps us doing what we love for as long as possible – extracting the most we can out of every minute we have.

The pets (or not), the kids (or not), the commute (or not), what we had for lunch today – all the little things that define who we are and how actively we can engage with the world around us. That is health.

As tempting as it might be, we cannot consider “health” separately from the rest of our lives, from who we are. Just as our bodies and minds define how we experience this life, it is impossible to separate the notion of health from anything else.

The point is, we can’t think about health separately from other aspects of life, whether that’s family, friends, finances, or what we do in our free time. They all impact the health of our bodies and our brains, and our personal health defines how actively and productively we can engage.

As important as it is, making the healthiest choice isn’t always easy or obvious in the moment, and that’s where effective communication can help. The right message from the right source can give us a nudge in the right direction, as we get on with everything else in our lives.

For better or worse, health is the top priority, even for those who might try never to think about it. In the broadest sense of the word, health is the most important thing – and that’s why our jobs as health communicators have such meaning.