By @george_mack

“A few weeks ago, my blood test came back. The doctor told me I had an incurable lifelong disease. I went through the inevitable stages: Confusion. Denial. Anger. Sadness.

My brain began to get angry at itself: How did you spend so much time taking your health for granted? Even though the condition was manageable and not terminal, I’d give my life savings to get back the health I previously took for granted.

Good news: The diagnosis was false. After the second blood work came back, I was all clear. I was in ecstasy. After a few days, the hedonic treadmill kicked in again. I was taking for granted again what 1 would’ve given my life savings for one week earlier. How is this possible?! My brain began to get angry at itself again.

Health is an invisible metric. It’s hard to appreciate because there’s no clear number on a screen like money. It’s only when it dips close to 0 does your brain realise how important the metric is. One useful reframe I’ve been using to reverse hack my brain: Turning my health into a $ amount. If you want to value an asset, look at what the market would pay for it. Based off my experience, I’m willing to bet 99.9% of billionaires who are seriously ill or have a chronic condition are willing to trade their entire bank balance just for your health.

Therefore, you’re already a billionaire. Just because the asset is illiquid doesn’t mean it’s not worth over a billion dollars. Ask any seriously sick billionaire what your asset is worth to them.

The healthy man has a thousand wishes. The sick billionaire has one.”