What Wellnes Is And How You Can Achieve It
Wellness as we know it today, the way it has been communicated to us has a lot to do with how it developed. Before the year 1948 health was defined as the absence of disease, and disease is of course in the body. This idea that health was more than just the state of your body began the unfolding of what it means to live a holistic, balanced and fulfilling life.
Wellness has 8 dimensions and these dimensions are interconnected. What this means is that one area affects the other. These areas are social, emotional, financial, environmental, spiritual, intellectual, occupational and of course physical. Your efforts towards the health and balance of your life, which can be divided into these spheres, is what I define as wellness. I say efforts because life happens and we can feel out of whack and off balance. I also say efforts because wellness is not a one-time event. It’s not just that one workout you did, that one healthy meal you had, or that one spiritual practice you engaged in - it is doing these things, and whatever else that is important to you and you enjoy, continuously. When you do these things that allow you to feel good about yourself, that bring you peace and closer to the best version of yourself. That is wellness.
As the health of each dimension is equally important and indicative to your well-being and consequently the quality of your life, the great news is that you don’t have to feel overwhelmed by the idea of trying to get all these areas in tip-top shape all at once. You can take ahold of one area, and as wellness would have it, when you improve one part of your life it has a positive effect on all the other areas. This is the nature of interconnectedness.
How do you get to this optimal state of health, you ask?
Directing your efforts towards improving the physical aspect, I think, is a great gateway to start living a whole and balanced life. The physical aspect of wellness can be divided into three parts: physical activity, rest and nutrition.
I personally think that nutrition is the best place to start, because you have to eat every day, you do eat every day and it is much easier to take control of and transform something that is already part of your life than it is to decide to start doing something new. For instance, it is easier to decide to start having one clean, healthy meal each day than it is to get a gym membership and reshuffle your existing schedule so you can actually get your workouts in.
Make slight daily changes and consider that your mindset and attitude are the filters through which you experience everything - so be mindful of your mind chatter and mentally gear-up for the inevitable dips and feelings of frustration from not seeing immediate results.
Let the energy that you get from doing the things that are good for you be the fuel that gets you through the mundane but necessary parts of your journey
Do the things that enliven you, and do them often. Witness how your efforts stack up and in the grander scheme of things transform your entire life. And soon you’ll be living the healthy, balanced and fulfilling life that you deserve.
