So, whenever I tell people that I am working in wellness, the first thing that they ask is, “What exactly is ‘wellness’ anyway?” There are a number of different interpretations of what wellness means. The definition that resonates with me the most is the conscious choice to engage in living a fuller life, which integrate body, mind, and spirit. It is a proactive, preventative approach to live with optimum levels of health, social and mental functioning.
Basically, for me, wellness is about more than just not getting sick but; it’s about having the ability to live with stress and the demands that life throws at you and still feel fulfilled, happy and in the end, well.
Battery Life
The best way to understand wellness for me is to think about it as if you had a battery life. I like to compare human wellness to a cordless gadget, a mini vacuum for example. For most cordless objects, you have to recharge their batteries to have them work, and if you don’t recharge properly, its overall battery life suffers.
The habits and behaviors we have to “keep ourselves going” are our approaches to recharging, not only our physical, but mental/emotional, spiritual, and community energy. The simplest things we do are eating when we are hungry, and sleeping when we are tired. More involved things would be working to be able to contribute to society and be compensated for our efforts, or having coffee with some girlfriends to feel there are others who relate to your gender experience. You may be able to run on 50% battery life, but imagine how good you would feel if you were fully charged!
How Are Your Batteries?
Ask yourself these questions.
- What do you do to recharge your batteries?
- Are you recharging fully, or constantly working at half charge?
- Are you charging all of your batteries, or just the obvious few of them?
How About Upgrading to Solar Power?
Optimal wellness is the ability to keep on going while you keep on going, similarly to solar powered devices that reenergize as they are outside in the sun! It is not having to try to do things to maintain or improve your wellness, but the things you do daily anyways, keeps your wellness at a higher level. For example, with regards to physical wellness, for people will lower physical wellness, working out might seem like a chore, but for people with higher physical wellness, it’s a pleasure, a leisure activity, or even an everyday occurrence not thought twice of like showering or brushing your teeth.
Check Your Batteries
Our general approach to health and wellbeing is quite reactive. We don’t fix things until they are broken. This approach can in the long run cost us more time, energy, and money; as well as decrease our overall quality of life. If by being proactive with your wellness, you can enjoy life more, and prevent the loss of time, energy, and money in the future, what is holding you back? Are you happy with your batteries?
