What is wellness? Many people think of health and fitness equaling wellness. Some people believe that you have to be a certain size to be well. I am here to tell you that is not the case. We have to look at the bigger picture when it comes to wellness. I have a chronic illness, I might be internally sick, but I am doing what I can to maintain overall wellness.
There are seven dimensions of wellness. I Found this lovely graphic from here. This sums up each dimension very nicely.
I am a work in progress, but I would like to give you a sense of what I am working on in each dimension as a starting point for future discussion.
• Social
I am an extrovert, and naturally gravitate towards social situations. I am involved with community theatre, lead a girl scout troop and am an active volunteer at church. I don’t have any issues putting myself into the social world, but sometimes I struggle to maintain strong connections with others.
I tend to keep myself very busy and almost too involved, so this is what I’m working on in the social aspect of wellness. I am starting to say “no thank you” to more opportunities in order to focus on the social commitments that I already have on my plate.
• Emotional
When it comes to emotional wellness I have many tools. I am in talk therapy and have recently started to keep a gratitude journal.
I tend to feed off of the emotions of those around me. I’m an emotional sponge! This means that if I am surrounded by a bunch of happiness I am likely to be happier, but if I am around negativity…well forget it. I can get stuck in the negative, complaining place for DAYS!
I am working on taking more ownership of my big emotions. I am doing this by trying to focus on the positive aspects of life and surrounding myself with more positive media content and people.
• Spiritual
For me spiritual wellness involves going to church on Sundays and being fed with the inspiration to be good to one another. For me I can find peace in looking around me and seeing what God has provided.
• Environmental
This is an area that needs a lot of work for me. I am trying to start small by using my own bags for shopping and saying no to straws.
• Occupational
I LOVE my job. I work as a nanny, and currently have an amazing job. I started a few months ago and it a the first time in a few years that I am back in work/life balance. I have long, but manageable hours that allow me to still participate in activities that I love.
• Intellectual
I believe that I am very open minded, and I am always willing to learn new things. I am planning on going back to school within the next few years as well.
• Physical
Oh boy, this is the area of wellness in my life that has inspired me to start this blog! I have lost 55 pounds and 45 inches off of my body since January 1, 2018 all naturally.
I have an autoimmune disease called Fibromyalgia and do not want to take a ton of medication to manage it, so I knew that I needed to find out which foods trigger my inflammation response and also get back into some sort of exercise routine to get stronger.
I have used Whole30, DietBet, Therapy, StepBet, and The Bar Method to get to where I am at in my physical journey right now in a healthy way.
I have more work to do in all 7 areas of wellness, as all of us are a work in progress. I have more work to do in some areas than others. Right now my goals are in getting a good grasp on my physical, emotional, and social wellness. I will be speaking a lot about the physical/emotional balance over the next few weeks, but the other things always tie in somehow.
Thank you for stopping by! If you have any questions drop me a comment. I can also be found on instagram @alykrysgetsfit and have a FB group called Talking Wellness with @alykrysgetsfit I hope to see you around!
Talking Life with Alyssa 