What Is Wellness and Its Types?

Did you know that there are different types of wellness?

Wellness as a whole is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis so that you attain better physical and mental health outcomes. The goal is to be thriving in life instead of simply surviving.

There are several ways to amplify certain areas of your life so that you can achieve overall wellness. It first starts, by understanding what the different types of wellness are and how they can show up in your life.

Emotional

Emotional wellness revolves around being able to understand and cope with your feelings. A few signs of being emotionally well are having the ability to talk to loved ones or close friends about your feelings, understanding your boundaries of saying "no," feeling contentment, recognizing having a strong support system and being able to relax and feel good about yourself.

Spiritual

Spiritual wellness can looks different for everyone, but centers around exploring your personal values in order to understand the overall meaning of your life and being able to act in ways that are consistent with those values. Spiritual wellness is healthiest when you can identify your purpose in life. This is reflected in the ability to spend reflective time alone, understanding what you believe, showing genuine care for the welfare of others while being able to practice forgiveness and compassion.

Intellectual

Intellectual wellness is having the ability to think critically and being open to new ideas while finding new ways to be creative. In order to achieve intellectual wellness, a development of good studious practices and skills, critical thinking, challenging yourself, exposure to new people, places and things and the development of your own ideas, views and thoughts.

Physical

Physical wellness is all about doing what you can to strengthen yourself through proper eating habits, consistent exercise and and awareness of your medical health. Physical wellness means listening to your body to know what will serve it best. Good physical wellness practices include the monitoring of the foods you eat, a consistent sleep schedule, body movements, and even hygiene practices. They can all make a difference in your physical wellness.

Social

Social wellness relies on our abilities to create positive relationships with others. Effective social wellness offers support during difficult times and involves building healthy, nurturing and supportive relationships around you. In order to achieve social wellness, you must reflect on your social needs and the aspects of your life you most enjoy. A few ways of building healthy social wellness can include engaging in hobbies and extracurricular activities, a healthy routine, effective communication, and even self care.

Career

Career wellness exists when a person is actively satisfied, enriched and aligned with the values, goals and lifestyles within their career. Gaining career wellness starts with understanding the balance between work and personal life. By maintaining a growth mindset, enforcing boundaries and understanding your definition of success, while frequently taking a pulse of your professional situation ensures career wellness is always top of mind.

So the next time you're analyzing your level of wellness in your life, ask yourself: are you just surviving, or are you thriving?