Are You Well?

By Dana Jefferson, C.Ht., Ph.D., CAHA

I don’t know about you, but I spent a majority of my life thinking wellness was about being fit, healthy, and thin. Maybe not understanding the essence of wellness led us to hours of goat yoga, using a “Shake Weight”, and participating in aerobics classes wearing truly ugly outfits.

Wellness is about much more than health, fitness, and thinness.

You can be healthy, thin, and fit and still not be a portrait of wellness. There are individuals with perfect body-mass indexes, and even those who are skinny, who are not healthy. Depending on what they eat, they are sometimes malnourished. You can eat a small number of calories a day, but if those calories are coming from junk foods, then you have not mastered wellness. There is a reason that cable TV is peppered with commercials about fruit and vegetable supplements. Eating healthy foods in moderation (especially those multi-colored fruits and vegetables) is essential. Exercise is also important. Some folks are able to get the exercise their body needs from housework, gardening, and walking everywhere instead of driving. Some folks are addicted (yes with endorphins being released) with going to the gym or engaging with online exercise apps. A variety of physical activities work different muscle groups, help to prevent boredom, and can prevent bone loss. through headphones can also be relaxing.

Wellness is not just a physical game. Wellness incorporates body, mind, and spirit. If you’re not using or challenging your mind, especially working to keep a level of openmindedness, then you should not consider yourself a completely well person. What are you reading and watching?

Is your world filled with sitcoms or public television documentaries?

Your spirit is the third part of the mind/body/spirit wellness trinity. Your spiritual wellness could come from your spiritual or religious pursuits or beliefs, or it could come from your outlook on the world. Are you a happy person? Do you see the good in even bad situations? Are you grateful for what you have as opposed to lamenting what you don’t have? Do your religious or spiritual beliefs give you hope for the future or a reason for pursuing the most out of life? If your spirit is unhappy or not filled with hope or purpose, then you should not consider yourself a completely well person.