When you think of wellness, what comes to mind? For many, it’s yoga, the gym, or participating in some kind of sport. While exercise is a significant component of physical wellness, wellness as a whole is much more comprehensive.
Your overall wellness includes multiple aspects. Each can have a considerable effect on your health and how you function. Awareness of each of these aspects and their importance can help you bring direction and focus to your journey of self-improvement:
- Physical wellness
- Mental wellness
- Emotional wellness
- Spiritual wellness
Physical Wellness
Perhaps the most prominent and pervasive component of wellness is physical wellness. In a society that places such importance on appearance, it’s hard not to consider exercise when considering physical health. While exercise is undoubtedly a critical component, physical wellness is much more than building muscle and increasing cardiovascular endurance.
Other important aspects of physical health include nutrition and regular wellness visits to your health care provider. It’s important to pay attention to your nutrition because what you eat can either complement your exercise routine or counteract it.
Making regular wellness visits to your health care provider is critical. Regardless of how well you eat or exercise, you can still develop health issues. In most cases, early intervention can significantly improve the outcome.
Mental Wellness
Despite the stigma associated with mental illness, there has been a lot of progress in creating an open dialogue around mental wellness. Mental wellness has to do with the functioning of your brain. The brain is the final frontier of medicine and is still incompletely understood due to its complexity. When those complex mechanisms fail, you can not think clearly and process information.
Mental wellness is important because it defines you. Your hopes, dreams, fears, and entire personality are all a part of complex chemical reactions occurring in the brain.
Mental health conditions can be born out of and worsened by stressful environments. If you don’t invest the time to improve your mental health, the severity of conditions that can develop can be debilitating.
Emotional Wellness
Many people consider emotional wellness as a subcomponent of mental wellness. However, it is helpful to consider the two separately due to the powerful role emotions play in your daily life.
Emotions are involuntary thoughts and feelings you experience resulting from some inciting event. Emotional wellness is how capable you deal with those thoughts and feelings. Working to improve your emotional health can enormously impact your day-to-day life. Emotions can affect how you think of yourself and your relationships with others.
If you’ve ever said something you didn’t mean out of anger, you know how powerful emotions be. Healthily managing them gives you more control over your thoughts and actions.
Spiritual Wellness
The topic of spiritual wellness can be uncomfortable for many people due to the common association of spirituality with religion. Although religion can be a significant aspect of someone’s spiritual wellness, it doesn’t have to be. Spirituality is about connecting with yourself, others, nature, or other power greater than yourself.
Spiritual wellness is intimately connected to the other types of wellness. Many people feel most spiritual when exercising or being present in nature. Others experience spirituality through meditation or mindfulness. Some find their spiritual strength through reliance on others.
However you find your spirituality, it can help fill you up when you feel like you might be running on empty.
Putting Your Wellness First
You might think you have more important concerns than addressing each aspect of wellness. The truth is, while other things might seem more important, they’re not. You can’t take care of other responsibilities, such as family, friends, and work, without taking care of yourself first. If you aren’t at 100%, how can you expect to give any of those responsibilities 100% of yourself?
Secondly, remember that this is your life. Responsibilities and errands come and go, but you are who you are for the entirety of your life. Don’t you want to know who that person is? What makes you happy, fulfills you, and gives you a sense of purpose? Only by putting all of the aspects of your wellness first can you begin to learn who you are and give yourself the life you deserve.
Some concrete aspects, such as physical wellness, might come easier than the less tangible ones, such as emotional or spiritual wellness. What matters is that you make wellness a priority in your life. This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process of exploring these different components, finding what works for you, and developing habits that will give you a healthier, happier life.
Wellness is a multifaceted aspect of health that includes much more than just your physical fitness. Understanding and working on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness can improve your overall health and happiness.
At Southern California Sunrise Recovery Center, we understand the importance of overall wellness and its many components. We offer a comprehensive approach to care for our clients, which includes giving each component of your wellness the special attention it deserves.
If you think that you or a loved one’s life might be lacking in any of these areas of wellness, we would love to talk about how we can help you. Call (888) 627-6225 to speak to a team member today.
