What is wellness?
Wellness is something that you choose to pursue. It’s a choice you make in life that requires constant effort to achieve. Wellness goes beyond general health. It encompasses a positive outlook on your mind, body, and soul.
Wellness is dynamic and exciting. It’s comprised of emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual factors. Wellness is an active, lifelong process that involves expanding knowledge, skills, values, practices, and supportive environments that increase one’s ability to enjoy a balanced and fulfilling life.
1. Emotional wellness
Emotional wellness focuses on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It allows you to clearly recognize and accept your feelings — positive or negative. This includes adapting to stress, life changes, and difficult times.
Ways to improve your emotional wellness:
- Being optimistic and focusing on the positive aspects of life
- Learning to accept your emotions, whether good, bad, or ugly
- Building and maintaining strong relationships
- Staying in the moment
- Practicing mindfulness
- Smiling as much as possible
- Maintaining a good work/life balance
- Getting enough sleep at night
- Seeking professional support when necessary
- Managing stress through positive coping methods
2. Spiritual wellness
Spiritual wellness is one way in which you can seek meaning and purpose in life. This can be achieved in a variety of ways including organized religion, prayer, meditation, yoga, as well as a careful assessment of your morals, values, and beliefs.
Ways to Enhance your Spiritual Wellness
- Becoming a practicing member of an organized religion
- Performing daily positive affirmations
- Taking time to appreciate the natural forces of the universe
- Practicing yoga
- Forgiving and forgetting the actions of those who have wronged you
- Meditating
- Reflecting on the meaning of past events that occurred in your life
- Taking the time to think about who you are and exploring your inner self
- Digging deeper and exploring things you’re curious about
- Practicing acceptance
3. Physical wellness
A focus on your Physical wellness will keep your body in optimal condition and health. It can be achieved through a well-balanced diet, various forms of exercise, and practicing self-control.
Ways to improve your physical wellness include:
- Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day
- Consuming a well-balanced diet
- Practicing portion control
- Eating breakfast every day
- Practicing safe sex
- Scheduling routine physical exams with a medical provider
- Getting enough sleep at night
- Committing to a smoke-free lifestyle
- Limiting the consumption of unhealthy fats, sugar, salt, and alcohol
- Learning to listen to your body and recognize early signs of illness
4. Social Wellness
Social wellness is your ability to connect with others and maintain strong relationships. It can be achieved by surrounding yourself with positive people and being comfortable with who you are in social environments.
Ways to improve your social wellness include:
- Getting involved in your school, workplace, or community
- Scheduling time to be with family or friends
- Reaching out to friends you haven’t talked to in a while to see how they’re doing
- Practicing active listening when others are talking
- Being respectful in the way you communicate with others
- Practicing self-disclosure to those you trust
- Embracing laughter
- Making an effort to build new relationships
- Refraining from blaming, judging, or criticizing others
- Being confident in yourself in all social situations
5. Intellectual Wellness
Intellectual wellness focuses on your participation in mentally stimulating activities that challenge your knowledge and skill sets. Be committed to lifelong learning and open to trying new things.
Ways to improve your intellectual wellness include:
Traveling the world to experience and learn about different cultures
Trying out new hobbies
Cultivating your own views, opinions, and ideas
Being open-minded about the views, opinions, and ideas of others
Learning a foreign language
Reading fiction and nonfiction books to spark your imagination
Learning a musical instrument
Exploring your creative side
Mastering time management with to-do lists and priority systems
Taking an online course on a subject of interest
8. Environmental Wellness
Environmental wellness is the way you feel about, respect, and protect the world around you. It can be achieved by going the extra mile to live an environmentally friendly life as well as conserving the world’s natural resources.
Ways to Improve your Environmental Wellness
- Recycling whenever possible
- Gardening and landscaping your home
- Turning off lights and electronic devices when not in use
- Limiting the use of heating and cooling systems
- Using reusable shopping bags and water bottles
- Electing to walk or bike to your destination of choice instead of driving
- Taking the time to enjoy the great outdoors through a walk, hike, or jog
- Conserving the use of water running
- Stopping the delivery of junk mail
- Cleaning with environmentally friendly products
9. Occupational Wellness
Occupational wellness has to do with maximizing your workplace happiness by focusing on work that brings you a sense of joy, satisfaction, and accomplishment. It can be achieved by exploring various careers pathways and successfully managing working place stressors.
Ways to improve your occupational wellness include:
- Thinking about the types of work that brings you joy and satisfaction
- Shadowing or volunteering for professionals in various lines of work
- Roleplaying conflict management with friends or coworkers
- Establishing a good work/life balance to avoid burn out
- Building strong relationships with co-workers, colleagues, and executives in your industry
- Setting career goals that foster positive growth and professional development
- Focusing on the positive aspects of your career and find ways to minimize or remove the negative aspects
- Establishing strong workplace habits to maximize productivity
- Scheduling time for innovative thinking and professional development
- Attending industry conventions
10. Financial Wellness
Financial wellness is the processes of learning how to best manage your money. This includes things like your expenses, personal finances, and investments. In can be achieved by gaining a strong understanding of where your money comes from as well as how you spend, save, and invest it.
Ways to improve your financial wellness include:
- Not spending more money than you have
- Paying off your credit cards each month
- Building up an emergency fund
- Creating and following a personal budget
- Setting short-term and long-term financial goals
- Managing your credit score
- Paying off your student loans
- Shopping for sales and purchasing off brand products
- Investing in your retirement through tax efficient investments
- Consulting with a financial professional to get your personal finances on track
Health and wellness are essential to overall life success. Now you can earn a credential and gain the skills to help your clients achieve this success.
Thanks for reading.
The Spencer Institute Team
