Wellness: Balancing our wobbly wheels
/April 7th marks World Health Day and in consideration of that I wanted to focus my thoughts this month on wellness and health promotion. Some of you might define health or wellness as a lack of disease or disability, and truthfully, if it were, there would be a large amount of us walking around “unwell” and “unhealthy”. The world health organization describes health as an overall state of wellbeing and includes 5-7 main domains: physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual (sometimes including environmental and financial).
Wellbeing is difficult to define, as it is as unique to an individual as their fingerprint. I would simply describe it as the curation and promotion of a satisfying engagement with one’s life to realize their physical, social, emotional and cognitive potential - So basically, checking off all those ‘domain boxes’ in order to cultivate a fulfilling life for yourself. The wheel of domains can help us to understand what areas of our life might need tending to. Sometimes parts of our wheels are disproportionate. Life is ever evolving and can create changes in how we balance them. They will look different from person to person and can also shift during different phases of life. We may not even realize those changes are causing our wheels to become a bit wobbly. It is important to check in with ourselves to re-adjust, refill or reframe the areas in need. After all, a misshaped wheel won't roll very far!
Before you even get to the “how to list,” I will share the best part with you; everyone is unique and will go about filling their wheel in various ways. There is no right or wrong way (unless of course your idea of physical wellbeing is robbing a bank; might I suggest yoga instead?). All jokes aside, this part of wellbeing is key. Activities that bring you joy might not be that same as the next health explorer and that is ok. If a joyful activity for you is sitting quietly in the park watching dog walkers go by, then great! If writing blogs about books and other things does it for you, then awesome! (I am confident only super neat people do that anyways). Whatever your passion is, find comfort in the fact that if it brings more meaning to your life and helps you feel great, you are on the right track!
My suggestion to you is to try making your own wheel of domains, filling each one with activities or hobbies you currently take part in. What do you notice? Are some areas fuller than others? Maybe some are completely empty. What can we do to balance our wheels? Remember: Whatever color, shape or size your wheel is, we are all unique and deserving of a full quality of life.
“The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.”
-World Health Organisation
Keep an eye out for part two of my post, ‘The Mind-Body Axis: 10 Steps to Wellness’, in celebration of World Health Day.
