August is Wellness Month – Whatever Wellness Is!

Why all the “Wellness”?

August is National Wellness Month. It is also the second month in the prelaunch for “What’s Your Story?” a wellness workbook for kids and adults who care about them. (List for launch announcements and discounts, click here.)

But wait…April was Stress Awareness Month, May was Mental Health Awareness Month, September is Self-Improvement Month…

It begins to seem that just about every month of the year has a mental health-related awareness day, week, or month, which you can see here.

How come? What is this all about? Here are some hints, from the American Institute of Stress:

• 35% of workers say their boss is a cause of their workplace stress.
• 80% of US workers experience work stress because of ineffective company communications.
• 39% of North American employees report their workload as the main source of work stress.
• 49% of 18 – 24-year-olds who report high levels of stress felt comparing themselves to others is a stressor.
• 71% of US adults with private health insurance say the cost of healthcare causes them stress while 53% with public insurance say the same.
• 54% of Americans want to stay informed about the news, but following it causes stress.
• 42% of US adults cite personal debt as a source of significant stress.
• 1 in 4 American adults say discrimination is a significant source of stress.
• Mass shootings are a significant source of stress across all races; 84% of Hispanics report this, the highest among the races.

My last post talked about child-rearing (along with the tremendous joys involved) as a cause of stress too.

In other words, stress is everywhere for everyone. Hence, all the talk about wellness—as if to be, it seems to me, an aspirational way to cope—even if we have no idea what we are even talking about when we say the word.

What is Wellness?

From the Global Wellness Institute:

The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.

There are two important aspects to this definition. First, wellness is not a passive or static state but rather an “active pursuit” that is associated with intentions, choices, and actions as we work toward an optimal state of health and well-being. Second, wellness is linked to holistic health—that is, it extends beyond physical health and incorporates many different dimensions that should work in harmony.

Wellness is an individual pursuit—we have self-responsibility for our own choices, behaviors and lifestyles—but it is also significantly influenced by the physical, social, and cultural environments in which we live.

Preventative and holistic approaches to health date back to ancient civilizations, and became a movement here in the US, with Dr Halbert Dunn, now considered “the father of the wellness movement.”

Wellness is an action verb to be differentiated from happiness and well-being, also verbs, but rather state of being verbs instead. Self-help, self-care, spiritual practices, fitness, nutrition, and dietary practices are all part of the wellness movement as we know it today.

Now, just in case you might think that wellness is baloney or selfish, bear with me for a moment while I make the case for wellness that I made for happiness in “What’s Your Story?” for the kids:

When people are happy they feel good inside and want to spread sunshine to others. They are more creative. They come up with fun and interesting ideas and adventures. They are also more productive, which means they can get a lot of good things done.

And here’s the cool part—happy people are also caring. They like to help others and be kind because they want everyone to feel happy too.  

So, when you figure out how to make yourself happier, you’re not just improving your own life story. Happy people make the world a brighter and happier place!

My take is that same applies to wellness—unless they are all over you about what you should be doing that may not even be what is right for you.

Wellness for You!

The gurus address wellness across multiple dimensions, anywhere from 6 to 10 or more dimensions. Coaches like to use the Wheel of Life, which has 8 dimensions, to help their clients identify which dimension(s) would be the best place(s) to start.

After my clients have completed the simple and quick Wheel of Life exercise, I like to ask them which dimension they think would most affect (elevate or improve) everything else. Easy as it all is, the results are surprisingly and powerfully revealing.

This helpful Wheel of Life exercise also appears at the end of the “Work-Life Quality “chapter in Getting to G.R.E.A.T. for any who might be interested in reading more.

And, of course, there is always my favorite Power Breathe exercise for anytime, anywhere, for any reason for you!

To your wellness!!

Love,

Madelaine

Photo by Freepik