There are eight dimensions of wellness that connect us and keep our lives balanced.
Read on to learn more about each dimension and how each contributes to our overall wellbeing.
- Emotional wellness focuses on the ability to cope effectively with life and build satisfying relationships with others
- Soul wellness is related to values and beliefs that help us find meaning and purpose in life. Soul wellness may come from activities like volunteering, self-reflection, meditation, prayer or spending time in nature. Signs of strong spiritual health include having clear values, a sense of self-confidence and a feeling of inner peace.
- Physical wellness involves physical activity, nutrition, and adequate sleep.
- Financial wellness is satisfaction with your financial situation. Finances are a common stressor, so minimizing worry about this aspect of your life can enhance your overall wellness. Options for managing financial wellness include having a household budget, starting a savings account and adding to it every month (even if it’s just a small amount), saving income in an emergency account, limiting unnecessary expenses and avoiding credit card debt.
- Environmental wellness involves the surroundings someone occupies, connecting overall well-being to the health of your environment. A person’s environment, both social and natural, can greatly impact how she feels. It can be hard to feel good in surroundings that are unsafe or cluttered and disorganized.
- Occupational wellness is a sense of satisfaction with your choice of work. This involves balancing work and leisure time, building relationships with coworkers and managing workplace stress.
- Social wellness is a sense of connectedness and belonging. The social dimension of health involves creating and maintaining a healthy support network. Building a healthy social dimension might involve joining a club or organization, setting healthy boundaries, using good communication skills that are assertive rather than passive or aggressive, being genuine and authentic with others and treating others in a respectful way.
- Intellectual wellness is when someone can recognize unique creative talents and seek out ways to use knowledge and skills. When fostering intellectual wellness, someone is able to participate in activities that cultivate mental growth.
Make lifestyle changes that result in an expanding sense of purpose, self-care and finding meaning in life through healthier skills. Create a quality of life that sustains you for years to come in all eight areas of wellness. We have the power to create the environment conducive to our own self-care, health and wellbeing.
Dr. Shelia Rivers, DSW, LCSW and MPH, is owner and chief therapist at Rivers Psychotherapy Services PLLC. Reach her at (707) 728-5131 or shelia.rivers@riverspsychotherapy.com.