How well are you?
Really, how well are you?
Do you ever take the time to wonder about your wellness?
Do you think you are well enough, or would you like to feel better than you do right now?
What can you do to become well?
These are tough questions that we sometimes try to avoid. But a more positive state of wellness is possible for everyone who chooses to make personal choices that will lead to a more satisfying lifestyle.
Webster defines wellness as:
· the active process through which you become aware of, and make choices towards, a more balanced life
· A conscious, self-directed, and evolving process of achieving your full potential
· A multi-dimensional and whole-self lifestyle
The World Health Organization defines health as a "state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
That is why Well Now Fitness is not solely about physical fitness. The philosophy of our practice hinges on the belief that wellness involves the WHOLE person: body, soul, mind, and spirit. We cannot live complete and whole lives if we neglect to take care of any one of the elements that make up our being. Each faucet of our lives is inter-connected. We must live integrated lives where all aspects of our being work together to make us a complete and better version of ourselves.
I have adapted a version of the Wellness Wheel to illustrate how important it is to live a well-balanced life. Think of your life as a wheel that has eight spokes. Each spoke represents a different category of fitness/wellness. If one of these spokes is out of balance it translates into a bumpy ride.
The Eight Elements of Well Now Fitness
Physical Fitness: The maintenance of a healthy body. Regular physical activity helps prevent and manage non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and several cancers. It also helps prevent hypertension, maintain healthy body weight, and can improve mental health, quality of life and well-being. (World Health Organization)
However, your body needs more than movement alone. Nutrition, hydration, sleep, rest, and obtaining appropriate health care are all necessary components of physical fitness.
Spiritual Fitness: A sense of purpose, direction, or meaning. It involves a sense of safety, comfort, peace, and connection with God. As our Creator, God has placed in each of us an innate desire to know Him. When we are spiritually well, we recognize our need for God and live in a close relationship with Him.
Mental Fitness: Our expression of feelings and the ability to enjoy life, adjust to emotional challenges, and cope with stress and traumatic experience.
Intellectual Fitness: The ability to engage in lifelong learning. It requires keeping your mind open, flexible, informed, and engaged. Intellectual fitness leads to trying new things and embracing innovative ideas. It is feeding the brain with adequate challenges to ensure it continues growing.
Relational Fitness: Consists of our daily interactions, the qualities of our relationships, and our satisfaction with time spent interacting with family, friends, and the community. It includes having an interest in and concern for the needs of others.
Environmental Fitness: Our sense of safety, comfort, and connection with our physical surroundings. It includes the places where we live, learn and work, as well as our communities, country, and even the entire world.
Vocational Fitness: Participation in activities that provide meaning and purpose. It refers to job satisfaction, performance, and professional development which includes employment as well as homemaking and volunteer work.
Financial Fitness: Our comfort and satisfaction with earning, spending, and saving practices. It includes our sense of control and knowledge about personal finances.
An unbalanced life can:
• Make steering straight difficult
• Make the ride unpleasant
• Be stressful
• Prevent you from reaching your destination
To function well and make our lives operate more smoothly we must be self-aware and pay close attention to each dimension of our wellness to ensure it is supporting us properly. But remember, no life is always perfectly balanced. It is a well-balanced life that we seek. There will be difficulties, setbacks, challenges, and stressors in our lives as part of our common human experience. These things have the potential to knock us out off-balance. However, we are resilient and equally equipped with the strength, resources, and support from others to help us recuperate our equilibrium when hardships try to tip the scales. We can survive and thrive!
If life has thrown you off kilter, it’s never too late to begin the recovery process of wellness. I have a great wellness assessment tool that will help you get back on track to living a well-balanced life. If that option resonates with you, you will find the free download available on my website link here WELLNESS ASSESSMENT | Well Now Fitness