Wellness. It’s a term that has risen in popularity among apps, services, therapies, and more promoting your wellness and overall mental health. But to navigate your emotions and truly reach wellness, we need to discover what that means in the first place. In today’s blog, we will be looking at the common areas of wellness and discussing why your ultimate well-being matters.
To understand why well-being matters, we’ll be addressing three major points of your life: purpose, mind, and body. By understanding how our well-being can affect these aspects of our lives, we can get a better understanding of why maintaining our wellness is essential.
Your Purpose
Arguably one of the most challenging questions to answer has often been “What is the purpose of life?” If you were to ask psychologist Mike Brookes, you’d probably get an answer like, “We are here so that we can continue to live, adapt, learn, and grow. A purpose of life, and our purpose, is to continue to evolve.”
But for many, if you find yourself asking this question in the first place, you're most likely looking for more. To gain more, we can shift how we look at the answer given. For example, my purpose is to serve people to the best of my ability: helping others lead their most healthy lives. Teaching ways they can do healthy things on their own, rather than relying on someone else to tell them what to do.
My example is of course unique in nature to myself. And yours will be too. But the important thing is to have one. Because without purpose, you will find yourself in that endless cycle asking that same question of “why?” Purposes can be extremely different in scale and nature. For instance, “I want to be the best grandparent I can be for my grandchildren.” Or “I want to become the CEO of ‘XYZ’ company I’m working for.”
So how can you find your unique purpose?
Looking deep into yourself and your interests can be a great start to developing your purpose. Remember that it’s completely normal for your purpose and its driving factors to change throughout the course of your life. Ask yourself these questions to help get the brainstorming started.
- What provides you joy and excitement throughout the day/ week?
2. Who inspires you in your life and what traits do they hold? What about them inspires you?
3. What contributions do you want to make to the world/ your community? (Start small)
Your Mind
Your mind and emotions play a significant role in everyday life. They define your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to various situations and experiences. Having the ability to identify and manage your own emotions can be a significant skill to hold.
For starters, let’s dive into self-awareness, as it plays a vital role in understanding your emotions. Being able to not only identify your emotional state but name your feelings, allows you to further diagnose causes and triggers. This awareness provides insights into how your emotions affect your thoughts and behaviors, both positively and negatively.
Along with being able to recognize and manage your own feelings, by having a solid grasp on your emotions, it becomes easier to empathize with and understand others. This empathetic understanding can enhance your relationships, both personal and professional, as you connect with others on a deeper level. Being able to offer support, provide comfort, and collaborate effectively, develops as your emotional recognition and intelligence increases.
If you find yourself feeling emotions, but not being able to categorize or understand which emotions they are, here are a few tips to start.
1. Pay attention to physical sensations in your body (chest tightness, stomach aches, etc.). They can often provide clues about the underlying emotions.
2. Reflect on triggering events or situations. Think of how the situation made you feel and what emotions may have been present during the event.
3. Examine any negative or distorted thoughts that accompany strong emotions.
4. Seek support from a trusted person or a therapist to gain guidance and insights.
Your Body
The significant role our bodies play in enhancing our overall well-being can often be overlooked. There are numerous ways in which this happens, some of which are subconscious, such as our body image, posture, and physical fitness.
How you perceive and feel about your physical appearance can significantly influence your self-esteem and overall well-being. Positive body image can contribute to improved mental health, while negative body image can lead to stress, anxiety, and low self-confidence. Interestingly, one small change you can make to positively shift your frame of mind is by adjusting posture. The Mayo Clinic recommends rolling your shoulders up and back, then exhaling and bringing your shoulders down, as if you are gently tucking your shoulder blades into your back pockets. They also mention utilizing pelvic tilts to gain better control over the pelvis, to allow your back posture to remain neutral throughout daily tasks.
And what’s the benefit to all of the posture correction work? Well, Psychology Today found multiple studies indicating that among many other benefits, confidence, productivity, and mood were all positively impacted by postural changes made by test groups.
Making The Connection
Now that we’ve discussed three major areas of your life, purpose, body, and mind, let’s go back to our original question.
What is a wellness journey and why well-being matters?
By assessing the three areas of your life listed above, one could argue that the journey of assessment is enough. But to truly reap the benefits of your wellness journey, you need to execute. It doesn’t need to be a major life shift, but in order to expect a change, you need to make a change. So what could this look like? Let’s say you are focusing on your mindset, and finances are at the top of your continuing frustration. One small shift could be to start keeping track of spending. Not by judging the way you spend your money, but by assessing where it is going, and why you may be feeling the way you are about your financial position.
As you gradually implement changes over time, you will come to realize that your wellness journey does not have a fixed beginning or end. Instead, it is an ongoing process of caring for and improving your life. Well-being is the ever-growing foundation upon which allows us to thrive and lead fulfilling lives. When we prioritize our well-being, we not only enhance our overall quality of life but also increase our resilience to face challenges and navigate through life's ups and downs. Dedicating ourselves to improving our well-being requires a sustained effort, but the rewards are proven and enable us to experience life to its utmost potential.
