Quite often when we think about ‘wellbeing’, what comes to mind are food and exercise guidelines for healthy living.
Of course, what we eat, how much we exercise, the quality of our sleep, and an absence of illness are definitely components of our wellbeing, but they’re not an exhaustive list. There are many contributors to our overall wellbeing.
Consider these factors when reflecting on overall wellbeing:
- Living in a fair and just society,
- Receiving a fair wage and being financially stable,
- Being able to meet the challenges of the moment,
- Having positive relationships, personally and professionally,
- Feeling safe and secure in our homes, physically as well as emotionally,
- Finding meaning in our work, in our relationships, and the activities we engage in.
From a whole-health perspective, wellbeing can be viewed as a continuous process where we work across multiple aspects. The way we function in one aspect can enhance or impede the way we function in others.
In my Mind Your Mojo work with high-achieving professionals we develop their Presilience Strategies, focussing on four key domains in life: social, emotional, cognitive, and physical. To me, these four domains are ways of attending to overall wellbeing. While each of these domains are distinct, they also overlap.
Take for example going for a walk-and-talk with a friend. When we do this, we’re attending to our:
- Social domain: interacting with another person results in a sense of connection and belonging,
- Emotional domain: connecting with someone we care about and someone who cares about us can make us feel validated,
- Cognitive domain: walking increases blood flow to brain and this is linked to better cognitive function and improved memory; it can help to alleviate anxiety and improve mood
- Physical domain: improves cardiovascular fitness.
Going for a walk-and-talk may seem like a simple activity, but as you can hopefully see, there’s a lot going on in those experiences, a lot that speaks to our overall wellbeing. Because our wellbeing encompasses every aspect of our lives.