What does Well-being mean to you?

What does Well-being mean to you?

You can’t scroll through social media without seeing the word ‘wellbeing’ all over the place, but what does it actually mean? How do you know when you are ‘well’ enough? How can you measure it? And does it much matter anyway?

The true definition, while a little vague, is simply “not having a diagnosed disease”.

According to the Collins Dictionary, your well-being is your “health and happiness” and the Macmillian Dictionary goes one further with the suggestion that it is the “satisfactory state that someone or something should be in, that involves such things as being happy, healthy, and safe, and having enough money.”

For me, the business of well-being is multifactorial. It is much more than just eating a healthy diet, or how much you exercise. It is a more complicated picture of also having good mental health, a high level of satisfaction with your life, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage your stress levels.

For the alphas (the high achievers), I’m sorry to tell you that you cannot get this overall sense of wellness by achieving a couple of these elements and hoping your achievements in one area can pick up the slack in other areas where you might be lacking. While it is not necessary to feel that every single one of the elements below is A-OK, I believe you cannot enjoy an overall sense of wellness without having some kind of balance in these key elements:

1. Physical – this includes what you eat and how active you are.

2. Emotional – your ability to cope with everyday life as well as how you think and feel about yourself.

3. Social – the extent to which you feel you belong and social inclusion. Rolled into this are your relationships with others, and your values, beliefs and traditions.

4. Spiritual - This is the ability to experience and integrate meaning and purpose in life. Achieved through being connected to our inner self, to nature or even a higher power.

5. Intellectual - It is important to gain and maintain intellectual wellness as it helps us to expand our knowledge and skills in order to live an enjoyable and successful life.

6. Economic - your ability to meet your basic needs and feel a sense of security.

So, how can you measure how well you are doing?

The experience of ‘wellness’ is very subjective. It is not for others to tell you how well (or otherwise) you are doing at your own wellbeing. When I’m working with my clients, one of the tools I sometimes use is called the ‘Wheel of Life’, which offers a 360-degree view of your current life situation.

Each segment in the wheel represents a different area of your life that is important for overall health and well-being. Of course, my wheel is skewed towards nutrition and lifestyle, but the effect is pretty much the same. You would score yourself based on how you feel about different areas of your life: health, weight, fitness, energy levels, personal achievements, work/career, sense of purpose, happiness, fun, family life, social life and friendships, and (last but not least) ‘me time’.

The great thing about the Wheel of Life is that it allows you to take an honest look at what’s working in your life right now and where else you would like to see improvements, then find ways to link your health goals, so there is a positive impact in other ways too, helping to increase your motivation and commitment.

I’d love to know what wellness means to you, let me know in the comments.

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