Health being up to luck entirely may be too far, but it's pretty fucking close.
Just some, but certainly not all, of the factors on health outside of one's control:
• Your genes (what illnesses/conditions run in your family)
• Whether you have an "addictive personality" (goes hand in hand with the above)
• Whether you are fat (many factors beyond daily habits go into weight such as your genes, and if you happen to be fat, medical fatphobia will supersede any other health issue you have, far more likely to be misdiagnosed, missed, or neglected)
• The country you live in (what resources are available to you, what viruses are in your area, etc.)
• The precise area you live in (environmental racism, are you in a low income area where environmental toxins threaten your health? Are the only jobs in your area the local mine?)
• The wealth to afford healthy food, gym memberships, supplements, treatment, etc. (do you live in a food desert? do you even have time to cook your meals?)
• The job you have (do you work in a factory where you are more likely to be injured? Exposed to chemicals, work in a mine, etc. situation that gradually poisons you?)
• Whether you happen to bounce back from illnesses or end up disabled by them, like the case of long COVID?
• Minority status (are you a woman who is seemed hysterical by doctors? Are you a woman with a condition that mostly affects women and is therefore understudied? Are you black, where racist medical myths like higher pain tolerance still exist? Are you a black woman, much more likely to die during childbirth?)
• Are there abusive people in your life? Sometimes this is in your control (an adult that can cut people off), sometimes you're a child with an abusive parent. Sometimes parents make decisions that disable you as early as pregnancy.
To say you have a lot of control over whether you are able-bodied is pretty fucking delusional, to be honest. There's incredible athletes that you would consider the pinnacle of health that go to the gym one day, make a small equipment mistake, and suddenly they're disabled for life. We're incredibly fragile beings. All it takes is a split second and you can become paralyzed.
This isn't about trying to say you have no control over your health or that it isn't worth making healthy choices. It's about how judging others is fucking ridiculous.
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