There are 7 connected elements of wellness that needs to be considered in order for us to live a balanced life and obtain holistic wellness.
1. Emotional wellness. Being attentive to your thoughts, feelings and behaviours whether they are good or bad and being able to handle them. Emotional wellness is about you being able to accept your feelings, understand why you are feeling in a certain way and decide how you are going to act in response of those feelings. Dealing with your emotions in a constructive manner encourages self-care, relaxation, stress reduction and the development of inner strength.I’ve found that this helps to deal with my emotions:
Being aware of thoughts and feeling.
Staying positive and smiling.
Accepting mistakes and learning from them.
Seeking and accepting support from family and friends when needed.
2. Physical wellness. There are three key elements that need to be cared for in tandem to keep our bodies in top condition and that is physical activity, nutrition and our mental well-being.
Physical activity keeps our bodies strong, reduces risk for diseases, gives us more energy and reduces stress. Exercise regularly, if you’re not a gym, team sports or taking classes kind of gal/guy you can make sure you get your daily dose of exercise by working out in your home there’s plenty of youtube channels out there but two that I am following are Yoga With Adrienne or pilates with efit30.
Eating a well balanced diet will help keep your body healthy. It’s important to eat food with a variety of nutrients and vitamins (try to stay away from processed foods and sugar!), this does not only help prevent illnesses but a good diet may also have great effects on your skin.
Exercising and eating healthy is key to improving your overall mental wellbeing and sometimes it’s the key to feeling better when you are feeling low.
Maintain a regular sleep schedule; try to get 7-8 hours of sleep every night.
3. Spiritual wellness. The importance of being in tune with our spiritual selves, this can be defined through various factors including religious faith, values, ethics and morals. It’s important for you to explore what you believe is your own meaning and purpose in life. The path to spiritual wellness differs for different people and maybe reached through meditation, prayer, affirmations, yoga etc. Building a spiritual practice helps you to live in the present and being grateful for everything you have, part of that processes is to:
Learn more about yourself; take time to think about who you are.
If something life-changing happen to you, reflect about the series of events that lead to it.
Spend time praying, meditating or practicing mindful relaxation.
Practice acceptance and forgiveness.
4. Occupational wellness. According to business insider the average person spend 90,000 hours at work in their lifetime, that’s a big chunk of your life! It’s important to find satisfaction, enrichment and meaning through your work. That’s why choosing your career is a very important life choice, nevertheless, if you’ve chosen wrong it’s not the end of the world as we can change and find what truly makes us happy. Sometimes it’s not even about the wrong career, it might be the wrong company culture, the wrong co-workers or the wrong boss – I think we’ve all had some person that makes us miserable at work. That’s why it’s important to deal with your feelings about work and evaluate how you really feel about it:
Reflect on yourself and your occupational needs.
Set realistic career goals for yourself and constantly work towards accomplishing these goals.
Stay true to what kind of career/job you want.
5.Social wellness. Social wellness refers to the relationships we have and how we interact with others. It involves building healthy, nurturing and supportive relationships as well as fostering a genuine connection with those around you.
Understanding yourself and your social needs.
Surrounding yourself with a positive friends and acquaintances.
Making an effort to keep in touch with family and friend that are important to you.
Cut off toxic people that bring you down.
6.Environmental wellness. Living a lifestyle that is respectful of your surroundings and trying to live in harmony with Earth by taking action to protect it. This can simply start by raising your awareness and having respect for all nature and all species living in it.When you become environmentally aware, you will be able to realise how your daily habits affect the environment and you can start to adopt environmentally conscious practices such as:
Conserving energy.
Recycle.
Spending more time outdoors and enjoy all that nature have to offer.
7.Intellectual wellness. Learning something new, engaging in creative activities, picking up a hobby, travelling, having stimulating and interesting discussions and keeping an open mind can all lead to intellectual wellness. As Leonardo da Vinci said ‘Learning never exhausts the mind’. Being open to new ideas, new cultures, new knowledge, new skills and new environments will make you see the world in a different way. Things that help:
Reading, learning a new skill and trying new things.
Travel – I’ve found that the best way to gain knowledge is by travelling and learning another culture and gaining a different point of view.
Listening, practising active listening is key to developing and fully comprehending new information that is given to you.
In society and our everyday lives we need to put more emphasis on the seven dimensions of holistic wellness rather than wealth and Money. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you can’t be rich and at the same time reach holistic wellness and lead a happy life. What I am saying is that in today’s society we put too much emphasis at the pursuit of wealth and money no matter the cost.
The key to holistic wellness is being aware of the different aspects to it; mastering it is a life-long journey that requires personal responsibility and commitment. Nobody is perfect but realising that your emotions, physical health, spiritual life, work life, social life, environmental and intellectual wellness are interconnected and needs to be addressed in order for you to feel less stressed, balanced and happiness is the first steps.
