What is Wellness

The 8 Dimensions of Wellness

If I am going to have a wellness blog, I think it will be helpful to start out by defining what wellness is (and maybe isn’t). If I ask you to close your eyes and ask yourself what the first thought that pops into your head is when you hear the word wellness, I would suspect that there would be some common responses. You might picture someone doing yoga, meditating, or going for a peaceful jog in nature. These are all certainly part of the wellness equation, but the full picture is of course more complex than this.  

Merriam-Webster defines wellbeing as a state of being happy, healthy, and prosperous. Does that mean that we just walk around smiling a lot, have perfect check-ups with the doctor and that we have all the money that we could want? Clearly there is more to being well than just that. We often think of being well in a narrow way and wonder why we are sad, unhealthy, and in poverty. Wellness incorporates a wide number of areas of our life. These include:

Physical Wellness: Caring for your body and its needs. This includes exercise, nutrition, and sleep.
Mental Wellness: Managing stress and mental health conditions. Learning, creativity, and problem solving also play an important role.
Emotional Wellness: Being aware of and expressing your feelings, and having an awareness of the same in others.
Spiritual Wellness: Searching for meaning and a higher purpose in your existence. Having a set of values and beliefs that provide direction in life.
Social Wellness: Building supportive networks and relationships. Connecting and engaging with others in a meaningful way.
Environmental Wellness: Recognizing the interdependence between us and your surroundings. This could be on a global scale, looking at our connectivity with nature, or more micro focused, such as our own living environment at home.
Intellectual Wellness:  A commitment to lifelong learning, expanding our creative abilities, knowledge, and skills. Seeking to stimulate our mind and to stay curious.
Financial Wellness: Having control of our finances, providing the financial freedom to make choices that allow you to enjoy life and feel a sense of security around your financial state.

As you read through these 8 dimensions of wellness, the overlap and interconnectivity of these areas will likely stand out. If one of these areas is lacking in your life, it will often spiral into other areas. For example, in leadership positions at previous jobs, it was not uncommon to encounter someone that did not show up to work. When I would call to try to see what was going on, I would often hear a response indicating that they were having troubles in their life. A wife was having issues with her husband (Social) and is feeling really stressed about that situation (Mental and Emotional). Now they are concerned about their ability to pay the bills and need to figure something out because they have not been going to work (Financial). You can see how quickly one area can bleed into another. The good news is that just as unwell behaviors and situations can compound, so can positive wellness. For example, you have decided to get to bed earlier (Physical) which has allowed you to feel more refreshed in the morning. You now have more energy and time in the morning to focus on a solid morning routine of reading, journaling, and meditation (Intellectual, Spiritual and Mental).

There is a common thread between these positive wellness dominoes and the ones that take us down a darker path. They are all initiated by some sort of action. Positive actions fill up our wellness cups, while negative actions will empty that same cup. Not every action will immediately tip the scale one way or the other. In fact, in most cases, it is multiple acts that compound to shift our direction. By establishing good habits in our life, we can move the wellness tide in a meaningful and impactful way.

Wellness involves the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health. It’s not a passive state but an ongoing process of making conscious decisions that contribute to one’s overall well-being. Achieving wellness is a personal journey that involves a commitment to making healthy choices every day. It’s about thriving, not just surviving.

Wellness is an active, dynamic process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence. By understanding and integrating the various dimensions of wellness into our lives, we can all strive towards a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.

Many times, we focus far too much on Big Unsustainable Goals (BUGs). Most diets are a good example of this. If we choose to follow a diet that has you live on only water and plain chicken breasts, you may be able to follow it for a bit, but I know I could never stick to that long term. The call for chips and cookies would be just too strong and I would eventually fail at following that plan. We might see some positive results for a time, but if it is a BUG, we are going to eventually lose those gains when we stop following that plan.

BUGs tend to have a yo-yo effect on us. When we are unstable in our achievements, we can expect that our outcomes will be lacking. Like a yo-yo dieter (we have all been there) you will see ups and downs based on our devotion to a plan at the moment. I am not making claims that it is as simple as, make good goals, keep good goals, see good results and never have another bad day. We all know that life has its ups and downs. In the 8 dimensions of wellness, there are a wide range of areas that can and will throw you curve balls. Even when you are on top of your wellness game, you are going to face challenges in your life in a variety of these dimensions. No number of good habits and actions can advert trials to your wellness in life. What it will give you is tools that will help you cope with those challenges, find ways to overcome them and over the aggregate, live life and live it well.

This blog is called Very Average Wellness because I don’t believe that success will typically come with setting and trying to change our lives through a series of BUGs. Instead, I believe that it is smaller, achievable goals that will move the needle for us long term. One small new habit might not be enough to turn the tide, but as we stack positive habits on top of each other, we are bound to see positive results. Most of my attention in future articles will be on these types of simple habits, tips, systems, and tools that can provide the positive momentum we all desire. Very Average steps can lead to outstanding outcomes when they are stacked together. The result will be a healthier, happier life of prosperity.

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