ABSTRACT
In contemporary living, the term “lifestyle” has a broad range of meanings to different individuals and is used in an expanding variety of contexts:
The television advertisement shows an attractive young woman, her long, blond hair flowing with the wind as she rides along the sunlit beach in her convertible sportscar. The TV announcer pleads with the viewers to use Goldendust Shampoo “so your lifestyle, too, will be golden and glamorous!”
The middle-aged banker sits behind a neatly organized desk. He is alone and in a wistful mood. This melancholy person reflects on the past, assesses the present, projects into the future, and hears himself declare aloud, “I need a change in lifestyles.”
The panting jogger runs up the hill and, despite his physical discomfort, creates in his mind the shopping list of items he will use this evening: various vitamins, selected vegetables, juices, etc. He then prides himself for making the right decision “to live a healthy lifestyle.”
This chapter, “Introduction,” from Warren R. Rule (Ed.), Lifestyle counseling for adjustment to disability, 1984. Rockville, MD: Aspen Systems Corporation.
The couple, while dining in an exclusive restaurant, raise glasses of wine in a toast to each other. One glowingly says, “Our lifestyle is really filled with fun, isn’t it?”
The teenager gazes in despair out of her hospital window. Recently she has been told that she will never walk again. She quietly cries and thinks over and over, “My lifestyle is ruined forever.”
