Wellness
The definition of wellness is the state of being in good health. Wellness has several different subcategories as well. I wrote a post about all the different types of wellness. Personally, I associate wellness with well-being or whole health. I personally use these words unchangeable because I think wellness is all-encompassing in your life.
From my research, wellness has 8 different dimensions. Environmental. Intellectual. Spiritual. Financial. Social. Physical. Emotional. Occupational. All of these work together to create your wellness or well-being. Not all these will be important at the same time. I think that would be impossible to balance all of these every day. For me right now, occupational, spiritual, and environmental are on the back burner for me. These are sections that I feel pretty strong in and don’t need to work on and get improvement. The others are things I want to improve in my life and have set goals to achieve monthly or quarterly.
Environment and Social
The environment is also your community. Environment has to be one of the biggest things that will either help or distract you from hitting your goals. If you don’t share your goals with friends and family, and they ask you to do things that are against the goals they can’t help you. Share with them and they will help you as much as they can. When I was a personal trainer, I would see family members also get in the way and even sabotage them from reaching their goals.
Social to me is the sum of the 5 people you hang out with. Who are those people and are they helping you reach your goals or are they holding you back. Sometimes you have to distance yourself from people in order to make yourself better. You don’t have to burn bridges but clear boundaries need to be set and honored. For me, right now in my life, I am focusing on making myself a better person. If you are helping me with that awesome! If you aren’t, I wish you the best but you can’t sit with me. I want to be surrounded by people who want to help me reach my goals and make me a better person.
Intellectual
If you aren’t learning, you aren’t changing. I don’t remember who told me this but it has stuck with me my whole life. When I feel in a rut, it’s the first thing I think of. Am I learning? Am I trying to be a better person? Intellectual growth doesn’t have to be something big. It can be as little as scrolling and learning through social media or grabbing a book.
Spiritual
This can be whatever you want it to be. I like how Gabby Bernstein describes spirituality. It’s whatever your high power is. Some people believe in God. Some by the moon or crystals or cards. It’s whatever you go to when you need help. I do a combination of different things because I like the variety. But it’s important to find what works for you.
Financial
Financial well-being is having all your basic needs met. At least that’s what I think of financial wellbeing. Then it’s saving for the future. Financial well-being is different for everyone because we all have our own ideas and experiences about money. One book that has changed my view about money is The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. While I have just started the book I have learned so much about my view on money is different than others because of experiences and stages of life.
Physical
I think of physical as fitness and your workout plan. Physical is about moving your body. For me personally, I don’t think Wellness and Fitness or Physical can be used interchangeably because it’s only one part of your wellness. It’s important to move your body at least 30 minutes a day or 150 minutes per week. Start small by walking to your mailbox or down the street. It doesn’t have to be something big or grand. Wellness is about small and consistent daily steps to reaching your goals. We have a tendency to overthink things and not keep it simple.
Emotional
Emotional well-being is so important. Your mental health is the first thing you need to work on when starting to work on your wellness or well-being. (At least I think so.) Your mindset doesn’t have to be perfect but more distracting yourself from the negative thoughts and making steps towards who you want to be.
I struggle with mental health. I have severe depression and anxiety. My emotions can sometimes be super high or super low. When they are low it is tough to do simple things. I am learning what triggers me and the things that I do when I am depressed. I have noticed when I am depressed I sleep more because if I am sleeping I can’t think about it. Then when I wake up I’m upset with myself because I am sleeping my life away and not working towards my goals.
Occupational
Your job has to support you. It has to bring you some level of joy more than disappointment. We work more than we probably do anything else so why not enjoy what we do. I am so thankful for my job and my coworkers. They are the best people to help me be a better person and coworker, and help patients.
Health
Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. According to Science Direct, there are 4 determinants of health: nutrition, lifestyle, environment, and genetics.
Nutrition
Nutrition is the intake of food. Nutrition is different for everyone and the amount changes depending on a person’s activity. When I was a personal trainer, I got a certification from Precision Nutrition. It made the concept of nutrition and how to apply it to every life easier. One of my favorite takeaways that I still use today is hand measurement. Protein should be the size of your palm. Vegetables are measured by your fists. Carbs by a handful, and fats by the size of your thumb.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is a huge factor in someone’s health. Personally, I think this is the most important and easily managed habit. The things that you are daily and consistently have the biggest output in your health and wellness. One thing that I am doing for a lifestyle shift is the 75 Challenge. The founder does not like to call it a challenge, but right now it’s something that is tough for me. So I’m calling it a challenge
Environment
The environment is the space around you. The environment is just as important to your wellness as anything else. Honestly, this is one that I haven’t thought about much in the past but over my studies on the word “wellness,” I have learned the environment and community is just as if not more important. The environment could also be your community or family. They play a huge factor in your success at life and wanting to live better. As a trainer, I have heard so many stories of a family being both supportive of my client’s willingness to change and unfortunately unsupportive as well.
Genetics
Genetics are huge impact on things you can and can not change. Some things are passed down that are in your DNA and some can be changed by your lifestyle. There are so many different ways that you can see and prevent yourself from getting. If this is something that you are interested in, I would strongly recommend you reach out to your doctor and insurance.
Fitness
Fitness is your workout plan or your routine. It’s the activity of living a healthy lifestyle. Physical exercise is generally achieved through proper diet, strength training, and rest or recovery. I like the definition and difference ACE Fitness provides, “Fitness specifically refers to physical health, and is the ability to complete a physical task, or the lack of a physical ailment. Wellness, on the other hand, refers to the balance of a spectrum of health-related elements in one’s life.”
Overview
I don’t use fitness and wellness interchangeably. I think they both stand on their own in different ways. Wellness and Well-being can be used to mean the same thing. What are your thoughts?
