Denton 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

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DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016

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