What Is Wellness? Part II
As we continue to explore the 9 areas of wellness, we consider how practical areas can greatly impact the other areas in ways we may not recognize. If your financial wellness is low and you can barely afford to meet your basic needs, it can be much harder to attend to your other areas. Likewise, if your occupational wellness is out of whack, and your work life is consuming you, you won’t have the time or energy to grow your other areas of wellness. Similarly, physical and intellectual wellness have direct implications for our body and minds. IF our bodies aren’t physically and mentally healthy, it’s hard to have any energy at all!
6. Physical- Physical wellness is often the most highlighted area of the 9 areas of wellness. Physical wellness includes engaging in a wide range of activities that support and nourish our bodies. Yes, this does include diet, exercise, and tending to our illnesses, but.. that means approaching the way we move and feed our bodies with love, not with hate and rigidity! We absolutely benefit by taking care of our bodies because it supports our mental health, reduces stress, and improves our ability to think clearly and have the energy to complete tasks. Also, physical health and exercise supports our brain chemistry to make us feel happier. Exercise releases endorphins and overtime helps to increase our serotonin levels overall! Physical wellness can also prevent illness and improve our quality of life. Your exercise routine could range from 20-30 minute walks, to kickboxing, to pilates, to tai chi. Improving your diet can be as simple as eating less processed food and more vegetables once or twice a week to consume more nutrients. And, we can honor our bodies by taking vitamins or going to see a doctor annually and when we notice problems show up. Engaging in physical wellness can help you connect more with others by exercising and eating healthy together. And your self-esteem can improve when you learn what your body is capable of and see how much easier you move through the week when you feed it and move it with love.
7. Financial- Financial wellness is an area of wellness that can also come with a lot of stress and can have big impacts on our other areas of wellness. Financial wellness implies that you can feel comfortable covering your necessities, like paying your monthly bills and unforeseen bills (ex: car troubles) and you can also manage to afford some of the extra things you want to be able to do or buy. It also means that you can approach finances and spending with some comfort while maintaining an understanding of the importance of budgeting. When we are struggling to make ends meet or have any spending money, we will often experience significant deficits in our ability to attend to the other areas of wellness. It’s unfair. While financial wellness is often improved with more wealth, the two are not directly related. Many people with much wealth may lack financial wellness because of the inability to ever find peace or relaxation with their money (this can have a lot to do with our childhood!) or with impulsive spending (buying those shoes might feel really good after you had a fight with a friend!). You can engage in financial wellness by regular budgeting and monitoring of weekly spending, carpooling, using public transportation, cutting back on expensive meals and drinks (why do espresso martinis taste so good but cost so much?), cooking with and buying groceries with roommates, spending more time outside to exercise vs paying for a gym, and taking advantage of free entertainment in the community. YNAB and EveryDollar are affordable apps and services that can help you budget and gain financial wellness.
8. Occupational- Occupational wellness is associated with the connection, purpose, and pride we may experience from our careers or the tasks, duties, or daily activities we complete in a day that contribute to our families or the world around us. If you are one of the lucky people that absolutely loves your job you probably are experiencing a great dose of occupational wellness! But if you are one of the many people that are feeling a lack of purpose or sense of passion at your job, like boundaries are constantly being pushed (more work, longer hours, moving expectations), or like you're stuck, you are likely struggling with your occupational wellness. Ways to improve your occupational wellness include finding the tasks and skills that you appreciate and enjoy and engaging in those as much as you can. If you aren’t passionate about the field that you are working on, maybe you can find tasks that you enjoy or get a sense of pride from. Maybe you love solving problems, building or creating things, networking, or working with numbers. If you’re feeling totally lost in your career or want to get to know more about what your strengths and areas of interest may be, check out O*Net to take a test that can match you with your career interests, strengths, tasks, and potential career options.
9. Intellectual- Intellectual wellness implies that we have activities or areas of interest to explore that mentally stimulate us. It also includes opening our mind and learning about new ideas or experiences. Intellectual wellness can include reading, completing puzzles or mind games, like sudokus or word searches. Or, it could include exploring our interests. If you love music, movies, makeup, history, mental health, current events, politics, or anything else, then researching or diving into these areas of interest can help stimulate your mind and make you feel connected to yourself and the world around you. Allowing your mind to engage in a mental activity that is not also tied with expectations (finishing a project at work or taking a test in school) can provide a liberating sense of ease. Also, if you’re overworked and your mind is constantly running, then this a good time to recognize your intellectual wellness may be exhausted. It might be time to look more into your other areas of wellness to seek fulfillment.
Check out Part III: “Making Lifestyle Changes Using the Wellness Wheel” next!
If you live in South Carolina and are interested in mental health counseling, you can schedule a 20min free consultation by following the link below!
