Google the word health, and you will find links on how to lose weight, healthy recipes and you see pictures of fruits, veggies, and people working out. Our society is so obsessed with this whole idea of being 'healthy'; so much that people go to crazy extents to present themselves in a healthy way. But when someone has attained a healthy lifestyle, they aren't just fit and eat good foods.
The truth that we need to know about health is that it is so, so much more than being skinny and eating clean. It is much more than certain numbers on a scale or how many salads we eat per week. Health has infinite components that can be classified into seven main classes of health. When we have a balance of these seven items in our life, we then can really consider ourselves 'healthy.'
1. Social Wellness is the whole idea of connecting with people in this world and being able to relate to different cultures and ideas that people have. This aspect also has to do with our relationships with our families, friends, and co-workers. How well do you carry out your important relationships? Social wellness is very important for advice, sharing, and learning from people.
2. Emotional Wellness is our ability to understand ourselves, accept challenges and basically how to mentally handle all life has to throw at us in an effective manner. This has to do with first acknowledging all of our feelings, fears, stresses, and thoughts. A lot of times, these sorts of things stay inside of us and we figure they will just go away. By having stable emotional health, we are not afraid to share, cope and fix things that deplete our emotional wellness. As important, recognizing what actually brings joy, happiness and love into our lives can create a new meaning of health for us. "Do more of what makes you happy" is a popular quote, but actually digging down deep into your life to figure out what you have passion for will improve your outlook: mental health is everything.
3. Spiritual Wellness is different for everyone and can be expressed in many different ways. This component to health contributes peace and harmony in our life and really helps us discover who we are and who we want to follow. Spiritual wellness makes us aware about what we value, what our actions should be and helps us to figure out our purpose for our creation.
4. Environmental Wellness means that you care for the world, the quality of water, air, and the land we live on. It's kind of crazy to think that treating the environment well has to do with our health, but when you do something good for others and our environment, it's a great feeling. Simple things to help improve this aspect of health are recycle, compost, plant a garden, carpooling and buying eco-friendly products. Making a positive impact on our communities, environment, and planet can help you to improve your environmental wellness and contribute to your global footprint!
5. Physical Wellness is one of those key components we think of when we hear health. Having physical wellness is the ability for us to get through our daily needs without fatigue or physical stress. Physical wellness also includes certain things like yearly checkups, balanced diet, exercises, 'knowing our numbers' (blood pressure, blood plasma, etc.) and more. Physical wellness has a huge impact on our wellness.
6. Occupational Wellness has to do with the idea of fulfillment. Fulfillment is a very hard concept to attain in our life, and many people do not reach their full potential. This wellness makes sure that whatever we do with our career, we have a sense of accomplishment, personal fulfillment, unending desires and impacts, yet still knowing how to maintain the sense of balance between everything. Occupational wellness applies mostly to our careers but can apply to much more, so have a sense of pride in what you do with your time!
7. Intellectual Wellness means that we are open-minded people, open to experiences and ideas that can later affect our decisions, interactions and community events. Learning lifestyles, customs and lessons from others is such a cool concept to me, and intellectual wellness says that when we learn norms about other people, we also learn about ourselves. These lessons help us down the road by improving certain skills, seeking challenges, and possessing new ideas. Never stop learning people!
These seven components can help everyone improve their health, and having a balance of each of these will be beneficial to your life. What our society really needs to focus on as far as health should have more to do with each type of wellness and less 'judging' people based on if they appear to be healthy. Even though someone may not look the part, their health may be the best it's ever been. Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle.
