The concept of wellness has fast become a buzzword in recent years, it embodies the ethos that we need to shift our focus away from isolated solutions of improving health to a more integrated and holistic one. Wherein we consider the whole person and focus not only on promoting and practising more exercise, kicking unhealthy habits and tackling health crisis etc. but where we look to integrate optimal nutrition, mindfulness, restorative strategies and stress management into our lives and underpin the whole approach with the aim of prevention rather than cure and merge wellness with wellbeing.
My take on the wellness movement is that is a long time coming, it seeks to educate and empower individuals and place ownership and accountability back into our own hands wherein we are encouraged to make improvements, better our habits and seek answers and solutions for ourselves. Hence it bridges the gap between reactive and proactive states and encourages education, individual adaptation and long-term lifestyle shifts; rather than blindly following short-term fixes, fads or applying temporary solutions to health related problems or aspirations.
It has been predicted that the wellness movement and its wellness coaches will bridge the gap between the service users (i.e. you the deserving women) and medical service practitioners. Wherein wellness coaches help to facilitate healthy lifestyle changes that can promote health, prevent illness, injury and disease and support recovery if such conditions do occur.
I think that this is a huge step forward and a much-needed bridge within modern society as it provides us with the opportunity to take an interest in our own wellness and wellbeing whilst being guided by informed individuals (wellness coaches) from the comfort of our own homes, local community venues, homely offices or the convenience of online interfaces.
It is also a huge bonus that the concept of wellness champions self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-nurturing, self-care and encourages women and men to prioritise and invest in themselves. The pattern here being that the self is hugely important and often overlooked in our busy modern lives and it is time that we change that and start giving ourselves permission to want the best for ourselves.
This is a message that I strongly advocate as it is all too easy to get swept up in the daily bustle of life and to overlook our need to be nurtured. Such oversight often leads to developing over-stretched, over-stressed minds and under nourished and underused bodies. Any combination of which, results in a less than optimal existence, an open door for otherwise preventable conditions and a niggling feeling that whilst we may be living lives filled with stimuli, that something fundamentally vital is lacking that leaves us depleted and running-on-empty.
So, this is where wellness can help you. By simply deciding today that you will start to prioritise your own need for self-nurturing you will understand the fundamental concept behind wellness and wellbeing.
And it is worth mentioning that wellness and optimal lifestyle will, of course, manifest differently for each of us-and that too is vitally important-as we are all individuals and one size does not fit all. And that is where self-awareness and self-knowledge are valuable in helping you to ascertain which areas of your life could be improved, down-sized or shifted to better suit your individual need and desires and which areas are already serving you well and meeting your needs.
So, to give you some food for thought here are just a few of the many ways that prioritising wellness can add vitality to your life:
Providing you with knowledge and understanding about how your body and mind work
Encouraging you to prioritise yourself
Giving you permission to invest in yourself
Providing you with knowledge about how your body and mind work and how best to support them
Opening your mind to new concepts and new research in health and wellness
Providing you with wellness strategies that will best support your needs
Inspiring you to make healthy lifestyle changes
Motivating you to set and achieve goals that will optimise your body and mind.
Compelling you to take brave steps and challenge yourself
Instilling a sense of belief, respect and pride in yourself
Enlightening you to ancient knowledge and cultural practices that can inform your wellness and wellbeing
Creating an opportunity to interact and socialise will people who are experiencing the same life shifts as you
Igniting a desire to spread the word and help those around you nurture and nourish themselves too
So how you proceed with wellness in your life is of course up to you, it is first and foremost a shift in your mindset that informs your perception and influences your actions and decisions. It starts with a few small steps and the path can meander to wherever you need it to go along the way. Once you make that shift and decide to make your wellness a priority you will start a lifelong journey that will add huge value to your existence and lead to an increased vitality for life.
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