What is wellness anyway?
Is there anything that comes to mind when you hear the term wellness? For some, the term brings to mind pictures of rippled six-pack abs, and restrictive diets that take away the foods we love. For many, our definition of wellness derives from the marketing departments of “wellness” companies trying to convince us how great our lives would be if we purchased their product.
Maybe for you, the term wellness brings to mind a serene landscape complete with ocean waves, and majestic mountain peaks that serve as the background to a middle aged woman doing yoga, or meditation. Are any of these things wellness? Is this what it really is? Photoshopped abs, and computer modeled landscapes? If so, then I am certainly not well. When I go outside, I see cornfields, and bugs, and I do not have glistening six-pack abs. So then, what does a picture of TRUE wellness look like? Join us for this series as we unpack a few concepts, and hopefully arrive at a meaningful definition of wellness.
To try to get a clearer picture of what wellness really is, let’s look at the history of wellness. Attached to this post you will find a wonderful timeline made by Michael Rucker, Ph.D. He is the author of a website that speaks to the importance of finding, defining, and pursuing happiness, another term that can be hard to wrap our minds around. Check out his website here for some great information around the idea of happiness, and thank him for allowing us to use his research, and illustration for this post.
As you can see from the timeline, wellness is a relatively new concept. We weren’t all that concerned about it until around 100 years ago. Another observation is the shifting nature of who the responsible party is for making sure wellness is being promoted. Wellness is one of the few areas in our culture that greatly impacts everyone, yet there is no clear leader of the wellness brigade, no wellness czar, and thankfully so. So, by default, defining wellness has been left up to the institutions, corporations, and marketers, each with their own definition of what they think wellness should be for you and for me. This brings us to the first item we can use to define wellness.
- Wellness is personal, and the definition will vary from person to person.
Having been in the wellness industry for many years, we know this to be the case, and see this reality manifested in nearly every conversation we have. We typically find ourselves reminding organizations, and their people that wellness is about taking the next step. Organizations need to resource and equip, and individuals need to be proactive. Our job is to simply help companies and individuals find their definition of wellness, and then journey with them as they work to achieve it.
For a company: Remember, wellness is not corporate, it’s individual.
For an individual: Be proactive and shut out the noise. You decide what you want your life to be like, so get help if you need it and make it happen.
Stay tuned for component number 2…..