Wellness: It’s something everyone wants but not everyone can achieve.
Right?
Wrong.
Anyone can secure a happier, healthier future. Wellness is easy to achieve. Often, people feel overwhelmed just thinking about making lifestyle changes, but these changes don’t have to be boring or difficult. Lifestyle changes, such as choosing to work out, eat healthy and relax with friends can be fun and easy! Build your path toward wellness by taking small steps toward a healthier lifestyle. For example, choose to take the stairs over the elevator, choose a side of broccoli over fries and choose to stop stressing over things you cannot change. In my personal life, I’ve found it’s often the smallest changes that yield the biggest results.
In this first post, I’ve outlined the six elements of wellness that I believe are the most necessary to achieve a healthy body, mind and soul. So, check them out, and start building your path toward wellness today!
Social Wellness
To achieve social wellness, maintain healthy connections with your networks of friends, family and co-workers. Step back from work, and find time to visit with friends. Take a moment to enjoy life and the relationships you’ve built with others.
Spiritual Wellness
Spiritual wellness is being at peace with the values and beliefs that guide your life. Build your path to spiritual wellness by listening to your heart and pursuing what feels right. Some find peace, comfort and strength in religion. Some use mediation for mental clarity, increased energy and inner peace. Your spirit is your guiding force; it is the essence of who you are. How will you achieve spiritual wellness? What does your path look like?
Emotional Wellness
Emotions can be difficult to manage. Emotional wellness, at is core, is the ability to express emotions in a healthy manner. Talking about your feelings is one of the best ways to achieve emotional wellness. Whether your happy, excited, sad or a little blue, just let out. Helpguide.org, a helpful nonprofit health resource, offers a list of easy tips to help you kick emotional stress.
Environmental Wellness
Are you experiencing extra stress in your life? If clutter is dominating your life it may be best to simplify your space. As some would say, a clear space makes for a clear mind. To achieve environmental wellness, you must feel comfortable, relaxed and at peace in your own space.
A fun way to achieve environmental wellness is to incorporate some Feng Shui into your life. Check out Katy Allgeyer’s blog Feng Shui by Fishgirl for her top 10 Feng Shui tips. With more than 20 years of Feng Shui experience, you know her tips have got to be good!
Financial Wellness
Money. It’s a crime, as sung by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Money seems to be the root of many problems today. To achieve financial wellness, stop stressing about money and start practicing some healthy financial behaviors. Read Trent Hamm’s The Simple Dollar blog to learn some simple techniques to reduce financial stress and gain financial wellness.
Physical Wellness
Eating healthy and exercising regularly are like two peas in a pod. They go hand-in-hand, and they make up the state of physical well-being. As always, you should consult with your primary care physician before dieting or exercising. How will you build your path to physical wellness? For healthy, creative recipe ideas visit the Jen Eats to Get Healthy blog. Warning: These recipes aren’t your typical diet food; they’re better!
The Wrap-up
So, what have I missed? What do I need to add to this piece?
How will you build your path to a healthy body, mind and soul?
Wellness By Design 
9 comments
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January 29, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Feng Shui By Fishgirl
Thanks for the mention! 🙂
January 30, 2012 at 1:06 am
christinebydesign
You’re welcome!
January 30, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Trenton Chavez
I love how you differentiated every aspect of wellness. Awesome post!
January 30, 2012 at 8:10 pm
christinebydesign
Thanks Trent! These six elements are not only my favorites, but I also thought they could serve as helpful guides for someone looking to achieve a well-balanced, healthy lifestyle.
See you Wednesday!
February 2, 2012 at 12:00 am
Juan Miguel
This is an area of interest in my field of study and I am thrilled somebody is stressing the importance of mind, body and soul equilibrium. Looking forward for more posts!
February 2, 2012 at 12:33 am
christinebydesign
Juan,
I completely agree! Often, people forget that wellness is more than just being physically “fit.”
February 8, 2012 at 1:19 am
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April 7, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Deanna Meadows
I enjoyed reading this post. Being “well” IS all encompassing. Many times, people feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start to begin getting healthy.
All it takes is becoming active. Moving our body is the first step in opening up the flood gate to being well mentally, physically, spiritually and financially.
When our body moves in exercise, it stimulates our brain and brings about an increase in cognitive ability, creativity, and the ability to retain information.
Exercise also produces endorphins that will elevate our mood, too.
Once we get our mind and brain in shape, all the other factors follow. Our brain is able to think more clearly and it causes us to make better and sharper decisions. Our self esteem is boosted. We begin to value ourselves and look at life in a more positive way. Then, we begin to expand our thinking to learn and develop our areas of interest and areas that we’ve not yet discovered.
This is why people get addicted to exercise. They get use to the overall good feeling and the positive residual affects that come with being active. Their body and mind craves that next activity like a drug addict craves his next fix.
My advice to people who struggle with starting something is to keep it simple. “Just move your body.” If you do that consistently for a few weeks, the rest just naturally follows. Even the unhealthy habits will soon lose their appeal. It worked for me! 🙂
April 9, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Britney Meteney
I love this because it is so true!!! I would say that I am a pretty healthy person. I eat well and workout very often. So, I can completely relate to this post. I so agree that there are multiple ways to wellness. And really all go head in head. It seems like there is a trickle down effect. When one aspect is going well the others seem to as well. For me I always get super frustrated when people complain about not having the time, energy, or know what to do. It is so easy to better ones self and realistically these are just excuses. Maybe others do not agree but that is how I feel because just with the simple changes like mentioned in the post help achieve a better and healthier you. Just taking a daily walk, eating healthier food choices, etc. will result in beneficial changes. So this improves your physical wellness which then usually improves your emotional wellness because your happier with yourself and the new changes and usually you continue to wanting to improve and stay on this healthier path…Etc. Etc. Etc.