I feel like I am at ground zero when it comes to my wellness journey. A lot of challenges have shown up in my life and it is time to re-assess and come up with a different approach to my plans. I am learning that there are times that you have to slow down, realign, and evaluate your wellness plan and ask “What is Wellness?” It is not easy. It is overwhelming. It is not fun. I thought I would share with you all what I have been learning about wellness, what wellness looks like, what wellness is and my own wellness journey that I am on now.
Wellness is an active process of becoming more aware and attuned to your body and soul.
You achieve the process of becoming well by making better choices toward a healthy and fulfilling life. Wellness is more than just being free from an illness or disability; It is a journey to grow more in tune to who you are. There are 8 dimensions of wellness. I did not know until I started researching what wellness is. It is kind of overwhelming when I realized there are 8 dimensions that I have to make choices and decisions about.
The 8 Dimensions of Wellness are: Emotional, Environmental, Financial, Intellectual, Occupational, Physical, Social, and Spiritual.
Emotional Wellness: Understanding your feelings and learning coping skills for stress.
For me, I use journaling to help me get out my frustrations. Writing down how I feel helps me work through finding a solution and to get my pain out on paper so that I am not holding it in my body. I have also used Body Scan Meditation so that I am in tuned with my body. I also color, read, listen to music, watch uplifting programs, snuggle with my cat, talk to my fish, take photographs, and do research projects to help me with stress and dealing with my pain.
Environmental Wellness: Learning to respect your surroundings and be in tuned to them.
I do this by using products to clean my home with that don’t have toxic chemicals that make me sick. I also help my outside environment when I see garbage on the ground and pick it up. I love nature. I love our Earth. It sustains us. It feeds us. It keeps us all breathing.
Financial Wellness: Managing and being responsible with your finances.
For me, I am still working on this. I live on disability and that doesn’t give me a whole heck of a lot to work with. I make sure my rent is paid monthly and my electric. I am blessed with a family that helps me with the tiny things that I cannot afford, like shampoo, cleaning products, cat food, peroxide to clean my trach, toilet paper, and paper towels. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have a bit of help from my family.
Intellectual Wellness: Being open to new ideas and expanding your knowledge through learning.
I take care of my intellectual wellness by reading a lot and researching things I don’t know. I take every opprotunity to learn.
Occupational Wellness: What you do be productive.
Since I am disabled, I have a job as a patient, friend, sister, aunt, cousin, neighbor, and boss. I am also a writer for Jamie Chases Butterflies and Wellness Works NW. I am also a review reader for different publishing companies. I don’t get paid for these job with money but I still enjoy doing them. I keep busy and it feeds my soul.
Physical Wellness: Includes eating well, exercise, and sleep.
For me, I aim to eat well however I don’t follow a diet plan. I don’t exercise, because I haven’t found something that I can do that doesn’t cause inflammation in my body. I want and need a health coach to remind me and encourage me to move my body. I am always working on my sleep. Since my medications and illness cause insomina I don’t worry about not being able to sleep. I sleep when I can and I don’t worry about it. Worrying about things only makes my health worse. Recently, I have made the decision to seek weightloss surgery. My primary doctor sent in a referral to see about getting Gastric Bypass. It is a hard decision, but I think this is right for me.
Social Wellness: Relationships.
I’m always working on building stronger and healthier relationships. Relationships are valuable. We all need them to encourage, support, and sustain us through our lives. We cannot live in isolation.
Spiritual Wellness: Growing in our beliefs.
My belief is in Jesus. Not the hell fire and brimstone angry God that I grew up with as a young lady. More of the loving, supportive, compassionate God that I am building a relationship with now. I got a new Bible as a gift from my sister. It is The Tree of Life Bible. It is the translation from Rabbi’s from the Hebrew and I love how my eyes are more open to the meaning and scriptures from a different language than the King James Version I grew up with. Every morning I have 4 devotions that I read. They are: You are the Beloved by Henri J.M. Nouwen, Our Daily Bread (you can get this devotional in the mail for free from Our Daily Bread Ministries, you can also get it on-line), Prayers for Hope and Healing by Sarah Forgrave (a wonderful book from a woman who has a chronic condition like mine and who is a health coach), and Seeking Aliveness by Brian D. McLaren.
When I started researching wellness I didn’t know there were 8 different wellness dimensions. I thought of only two, eating well and exercise. I discovered that eating well and exercise are not the only aspects on seeking wellness. Wellness means more than just eating right and exercising. It means to be focused on living well in a lot of areas of life and I see that now. Life can be overwhelming but it is also beautiful, complicated, and chaotic. I aim to do better. How about you?
If you need some help creating a schedule as part of your comprehensive wellness plan please contact Karen G Clemenson at Wellness Works NW in Longview, Washington. She serves people in Cowlitz County and Columbia County Oregon.
Ask Dear Jamie to Research a TopicHere are some links I would like to share with you:
- National Wellness: The Six Dimensions of Wellness
- UCDavis: What is Wellness?
- Related Articles
Jamie Holloway lives in the Portland, Oregon area. Since October 2011 she has been sharing her Journey Toward Health and Wellness with Vasculitis through her blog at JamieChasesButterflies.com. As most of her articles will be about Men’s Health, Jamie intends to write her articles as though she was sharing important information with her brother, nephews and friends. We hope you are as inspired as we are with the raw candor Jamie uses in her writing. If you would like to help support Jamie’s writing efforts please Donate now.
