When you think of wellness, you usually think of how healthy a person is. You may also think about eating healthy and exercising. However, wellness is more than just good physical health and being free of illness. It is actually, choosing to live your life at its full potential, by making conscious choices that lead to a healthier and fulfilling life, thus beginning your wellness journey.
What Is A Wellness Journey?
Your wellness journey is a process of self-discovery, exploration, and growth. It helps you to improve your overall well-being by discovering who you are. While on your wellness journey, you explore all aspects of your life, and each dimension of your well being. This helps you to become more aware of your needs, help you to set goals for yourself, and create a plan to achieve the life you desire. By taking the time to explore all eight dimensions of your well-being and making conscious decisions about how you want to live, you can achieve great satisfaction in your daily life – transitioning from a state of surviving to thriving.
What Are The 8 Dimensions of Wellness?
1. Physical Health— is getting enough sleep, regular exercise, a nutritional diet, practicing safe sex, and having good hygiene.The shell of who you are and how you are able to traverse this world needs love and positive attention. It is important to be kind to your body. Feed it nutritional meals, give it proper exercise, get adequate sleep, be more intentional of your sexual choices, and not neglecting your personal hygiene. Your body is a temple, respect it.
2. Emotional Health— is taking care of your mind, emotional needs, and self-esteem. This area is where self-love and your mental health comes into play. Strengthening your emotional health helps you to respond to your emotions when faced with stress and adversities, instead of react to them. Meditating, journaling, using affirmations and speaking to a professional, if needed, are great ways to start building this area. Emotional wellness supports healthy thoughts.
3. Social Health— is having close friends and family, intimate relationships, and a support system. No one likes being alone, even if it is a choice. Isolation creates a sense of loneliness — and too much of it is not good for your emotional (mental) health. Having social connections with friends, family, a spouse or support group, is important when trying to fulfill your sense of love and belonging. It aides with the feelings of stress and depression.
4. Financial Health— is financial stability, practicing good financial habits, and having enough money to thrive. Money alone will not make you happy. However, it is an important tool in acquiring the things and experiences that does. Following a budget, avoiding emotional spending, getting an additional income, and reducing your expenses are a few ways to improve this area.
5. Environmental Health— is being in safe and healthy spaces that allows peace of mind, and contributes to your growth and well-being. This is probably the most impactful and influential part of a persons total health. Your emotional (mental) health feeds off your environment, and you knowingly and unknowingly adapt and behave accordingly. In other words, consciously and subconsciously you draw inferences from the people, places, things and ideas within your environment. Knowing this, think about how a loud, messy, dysfunctional, manipulative, drug filled, traumatic, narcissistic and/or toxic environments could influence your mind, health and behavior. It is important to create a safe space for yourself or put yourself in spaces that encourages your growth in a healthy way.
6. Occupational Health— is having an enjoyable job or fulfilling career. Having to drag yourself out of bed to a job that you hate or doesn’t pay you an adequate salary, isn’t fulfilling and can take a toll on your mental health and happiness. If there is no sense of enjoyment and you are strictly working for pay, your current job is probably not for you.
They say, “if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life.” Try finding purpose within your job to gain a sense of meaning and belongingness. If working for someone else is not for you, try finding a happy medium between a hobby and providing a service to others. This is where you could potentially find your dream job.
7. Intellectual Health— is learning new things, being creative, and enjoying your hobbies. You are never too old to learn, create, discover, and explore. Never stop learning! The more you learn is like another level to life has been unlocked. It is through learning you discover new ideas, things about yourself, things about others, and the world. If you are a person that is chronically ‘bored’, you are probably not living an engaging life or engaging in stimulating activities. Stimulate your mind with topics that interests you, develop a new skill or learn a new language.
8. Spiritual Health— is having a sense of purpose, as well as spiritual and religious belief. We all need something to believe in. Regardless of your emotional, spiritual and religious beliefs, the concept is the same— believing strongly towards something you deem bigger than yourself. This is what gives meaning behind your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Fulfilling this area could mean, going to places of worship, keeping religious and spiritual journals, mediating or connecting with nature.
Ultimately, your wellness journey is a lifestyle. It is about you making conscious decisions about how you want to live – from eating nutritious foods, to exercising regularly, or spending more time with family. It is also about taking time for yourself, by meditating, practicing self-love, and indulging in self-care. Creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself can help you feel better physically, mentally, and spiritually. If you have a sense of unhappiness within your life, chances are one or more areas of your wellness needs attention. By making small changes in your daily life and habits, you can start creating a healthier lifestyle that feels right for you. Here are 5 ways to kick start your wellness journey.
I hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for stopping by!
