How do you define wellness?
A quick web search will give you a glimpse into the enormity of the global health and wellness industry. In a saturated market, drenched in trends, fads (and let’s be honest, quite a lot of judgement) how do you know which wellness path and advice is right for you? Whether you have recently decided to prioritise your wellbeing, or evaluating where you’re at, have you ever stopped to think about what wellness really means to you?
So what does ‘wellness’ really mean to you?
The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as ‘the active, conscious pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to holistic health.’ For a moment, forget everything health, wellness and fitness that you may have seen online or in the media. Rather than looking for answers outside, sometimes it’s important to first go within. What does being well look like for you? For some people that may look like getting enough sleep or perhaps eating a nutritious diet. For others, it may look like a fitness goal, healthy relationships, feeling financially stable or having less stress in their lives.
Wellness can look completely different from one person to the next, and can be influenced by our environment, our core values and our life experiences. Everyone’s life stories, priorities and motivations can be different for a myriad of reasons. This is why it’s so important to look inwards first, before looking for direction from the thousands of sources available at our finger tips. Once you’ve spent some time thinking about your unique definition of wellness, how do you take action to start living a life that aligns with this?
Firstly, don’t compare yourself to anybody else (remember, everyone’s journey looks different!). While looking to role models for inspiration can be motivating, no two people are the same. You’ll only ever get a glimpse of what their life is really like, especially on social platforms. Comparison is the thief of joy, so take care not to fall into this trap by worrying too much about how you measure up against other people.
Secondly, don’t put pressure on yourself to have it all figured out at once. Sustainable wellness behaviours can take time, especially if you’re making big changes. Starting small can have huge positive impacts. Even if your progress feels so small that you wonder if anything is really happening, it’s still progress, and it’s still more than you’ve been doing up to this point.
Quick tips for owning your wellness journey:
Think about what wellness means to you (reflecting or journalling can be helpful here).
Write down your definition of wellness, and put it somewhere you’ll see it often (phone screen, on the fridge, bathroom mirror).
Take stock of your social media consumption (are the pages and people you follow aligned with your wellness goals or are they unhelpful?).
Use your wellness definition to create goals (be realistic about what they are, how long they’re likely to take, and think about how you’ll measure your progress).
Note down the steps that lead you closer to these goals (these steps can be bigger changes, or tiny, incremental actions). It all adds up over time.
Be gentle with yourself. Just getting started is a huge step - celebrate this!
