Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better health outcomes. These health outcomes include both physical and mental health. By increasing healthy habits you can improve your physical & mental health.
Research shows there are 7 overarching dimensions of wellness:
Physical
Intellectual
Environmental
Emotional
Vocational
Social
Spiritual
Balance among these seven dimensions leads to a fuller, more satisfying life. Within those bigger categories there are pieces that can be broken down into smaller and more specific parts:
Nutrition
Exercise/movement
Stress
Hormone Health
Body image
Mood
Sleep
Self Talk
Self care
Relationships
Happiness
Career
(just to name a few)
Just looking at this list, how do you feel about your personal balance between all of these? You might feel overwhelmed or unsure where to start. Here is a little exercise to give you a start.
* Write a list of all 7 areas and rank them on a 1-10 scale. How well do you feel in that area of your life right now? 1 being not good/very out of balance and 10 being very good/the most balanced.
* Take the areas with the lowest score (choose 2-3) and start working on those first!
Start small and keep it simple. The goal is small changes that are consistent over time.
* Reflect on what specifically you want to be different in that area. This would be where the smaller sub categories come in. There may be more than 1 area for improvement in each of the 2-3 categories.
* Make a plan for when & what you plan to do & write it down to help keep you accountable. Break it down into specific goal with specific actions you can take. (See the making a schedule and writing it down from a previous article.)
* Check in with yourself regularly to track progress and determine what is working and what isn’t. Make adjustments as needed.
Example: If the category you determine needs the most work is physical. Break it down into a subcategory… maybe exercise is good but nutrition could be better. A specific and measurable goal breakdown could look like the following; eating healthier, eating healthier is eating more vegetables, that feels possible and most successful for dinner, let’s make vegetables the biggest portion on the plate and do that 5-6/7 nights per week.
The key is to write something specific you can change and how often you are going to focus on it (ie. how many days or meals) make it specific and measurable. Write down the goal and put it somewhere visible as a reminder to practice consistently. Then execute until it becomes a new habit! Remember it takes a minimum of 60 days to form a new habit. The novelty of a new goal wears off between 7-14 days. Keep going, stay consistent, it will be uncomfortable but it is doable!
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