Collin County Living Well Magazine November/December 2016 | Page 11

By Gerry Strauss voices achieves physical and emotional fitness. O ne of mankind’s eternal gripes is that the wisdom we acquire throughout life is not fully realized within us until our golden years. And, most of us never have a chance to fully take advantage of the lessons we learn throughout our lifetimes. Enter Jewel, the 42-year-old songstress whose 1995 debut album, Pieces of You, introduced us to a very young woman with a very old soul, full of life experiences that most of us––at any age––have only dreamed of. From her simple upbringing in Alaska to traveling the west coast performing in coffeehouses with little money to her name, Jewel’s story is one of success, failure, passion, faith, and an endless cavalcade of people who influenced her personally or artistically. In the over 20 years since her debut multi-platinum album changed her life forever, Jewel has come to realize that success and money doesn’t necessarily end life’s challenges: if anything, it usually paves the way for new ones. While entertainers often feel the need to focus on their aesthetic traits, it’s the process of being emotionally prepared for life’s hills and valleys that she prioritizes above all else. “I think emotional fitness is something we’re not incredibly educated on,” Jewel says. “It isn’t taught in schools. We don’t learn what it is to be human, and how to be satisfied, and how to make our brains work for us, and all the things that really are so essential to being alive. Math and sciences and those things are incredibly important, but it isn’t the whole picture.” Clearly passionate about the topic at hand, she says, “If I were to ask, ‘What is Jewel’s happy ending,’ it’s that I’ve come to peace with the process. To me, that’s what happiness is. It’s not some state of bliss that you achieve, never to leave again. It’s how do you handle the truth in life every day without it knocking you off your center perpetually? How do you transmute pain into being exceptional instead of into being damaged, and being bitter, and being broken?” Jewel certainly understands that physical wellbeing is a crucial element to staying beautiful, young and––most importantly of all––healthy. It’s that last reason that gave her the motivation to change her diet and lifestyle early in her career. “There’s no shortcut,” she says. “I taught myself about nutrition, herbology, and fitness, and I gave myself a real, actual, meaningful education so that I could have meaningful, long-term health results. It hasn’t been motivated by, ‘Oh my god. I’m in the Continued, next page Matthew Rolston photo COLLIN COUNTY Living Well Magazine | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 9