Many of us find ourselves helping others but struggling to find the time to take care of ourselves. We all know that self-wellness allows us to better care for our families, friends, and colleagues. Yet, we do not stop the crazy train and make better choices for ourselves.
Both of us have been on this path of making the time to better care for ourselves. Last year we took matters more seriously, especially as it relates to extremely long work hours. We came across an excellent article discussing this topic by Lillyana Morales on Thriveworks website, so we want to pass along some tips to you.
Consider these five categories of wellness or balance:
- Physical
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Professional
- Social
Physical wellness: This area of wellness involves committing to eating real food, cooking your own food, developing a regular exercise routine, living an active lifestyle where movement is encouraged vs avoided, getting 7-8 hours of good sleep per night, and seeing the appropriate health care providers that you need.
Obviously if you suffer with a chronic painful condition, we encourage you to see our providers at Caring Medical FL and start on the road to healing. We can also help you set other goals to incorporate other aspects of improving your physical wellness, including diet, exercise, and movement recommendations.
Emotional wellness: This area of wellness is often overlooked or not addressed. Think of it this way – what areas of your life provide positive emotions and what areas elicit negative emotions? Sometimes we need to do some housecleaning in this area of our lives.
Do you need to distance yourself from stressful people or situations? This may mean fasting from social media, television, or other negative influences. It might involve changing your friend group.
Do you do anything for yourself that makes you feel peaceful and joyous? Consider carving out time for things like reading, journaling, painting, cooking, taking a walk, taking a class, or improving a skill.
Spiritual wellness: Author and motivator Tony Robbins states, “Spiritual wellness is the desire to do good, to live with gratitude, and to bring positivity to the world.” It is not a set of rules and regulations. It involves living your life with balance and purpose. Our good friend, Tim, always reminds us to “enjoy the journey” – and he is so right. Look at so-called obstacles as opportunities, as part of your journey. When we emanate peace, love, and have a positive outlook, we bring it more into our own lives. As Christians, we believe that this comes from the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us, allowing us to shine our love and light to others. We encourage you, as we have said in our other newsletters, to adopt an attitude of gratitude, pray, seek and live out your purpose, and live a generous life.
Professional wellness: Those with passion and commitment to their work can easily become burned out. The demands and requests are endless. Sometimes the answer needs to be “no” to obligations that can impair our well-being and quality of work. Some suggestions to improve wellness in this realm include taking classes or reading books that will develop your skills and help you work more efficiently to have a better work-life balance, as well as committing to not overcommitting! 😊
Social wellness: Most people like to hang out with people they enjoy. But friendships take time and commitment just like anything else. We encourage you to assess who in your life you want to develop better relationships with and who in your life you need to limit or eliminate. Time spent with people who drain you or suck the energy out of you do not contribute to wellness. Who can you have meaningful conversations with, participate in healthy activities with, or share experiences that provide a sense of joy? Make the time to develop these relationships. Plan for times to get together.
How do you accomplish these wellness goals?
Bottom line: Routine. Habits. Intentionality. And giving yourself grace.
Enjoy the journey, friends.