Getting into the Basics, Wellness 101
So, my first post “Wellness 101” kicked off the conversation with a definition of what wellness is, I also outlined a little bit about my blog and how I plan to use this ether-world exactly. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, you can check it out here, “let’s Get Started, Wellness 101”. This post, Wellness 101, Part II, will explore what wellness is in greater depth, what it means in the world of mental health counseling and I will give you some strategies to build a life of greater well-being.
Building a Life of Wellness
Wellness is a term that is widely used across many domains, I encountered much of this variety in my research of this topic. A quick Google search will bring up many topics in the world of health, nutrition, fitness, weight loss, and healthcare. While all of these topics are appropriate and definitely coincide with my own definition, there is some nuance, or better said, any one of these above topics is a path through which one might find a life of greater wellness and happiness.
I want to think of wellness as the umbrella to the many paths (or categories) we find under wellness. While fitness and healthy eating habits will contribute to one’s well being it will take this along with a variety of other healthy habits to find overall good health and well being, habits such as good sleep hygiene, a healthy network of friends, a satisfying work or school environment as well as good time management.
This all might sound like a lot, but remember, wellness is a process we journey towards one step at a time, and one healthy habit begets another. Once you are able to take a few small steps, you would be surprised at how quickly it can blossom and spill over into the many other parts of your life. As is with anything in life, this is a marathon, not a sprint, we will get there, one step at a time.
Some steps you can take to get on the road towards wellness:
- Identify a list of goals for yourself, they can be from different parts of your life, such as career or academic goals, a home life goal, a financial goal, or a healthy eating goal to name a few ideas. There are many possibilities here, these are just a few thoughts to help you get started, but go with whatever comes to mind first, it is likely that this is your area of greatest need right now. Next, write down one goal for each area or if you have a focus in mind, go with that. It’s important not to get too overwhelmed with too much to focus on as you are getting started on creating change, so I would start with 1-3 goals. I also recommend actually writing them down as I believe this is part of the intentionality that I was talking about in my first post. When we are intentional in our steps and actions we have a greater chance for successful outcomes.
- Now that you have a goal or two in mind for yourself, identify at least one action step that will help you move towards accomplishing this goal. For example, if your goal is to drink 8 glasses of water a day, you might start with drinking 4 glasses of water a day for a week and then gradually increase it by one glass every day. Or if your goal is to increase your social network, an action step might be to research social networks or groups in your town or city, through meetup.com for example.
- This last step is putting your plan into action. If you have made it to step 3 then you might be ready to take that next step towards the implementation of your plan. First we “plan the work” and then we “work the plan” as has been said many times over to yours truly, by one of the more influential men in my life, I am fortunate enough to call my father. I am sure his nuggets of wisdom will be highlighted in this blog routinely!
Remember, from my first post I described wellness as a journey that takes intentionality and perseverance. This can be hard… really hard. It takes lots of work and discipline to maintain the balance between, the “have to’s” and the “want to’s” and depending on what your goals are, this will vary and will change over time, which might be a high priority today, may be further down the list in a week.
Wherever you are in your journey is where you are meant to be and we are here to help you along the way, think of us as your wellness partner supporting you in this exciting often daunting thing we call life!
