“But the self is not something one finds, it is something one creates.”
- Thomas Szasz
Expanding Our Understanding of Health
Long gone are the days when the wisest health advice one could find was limited to apples and keeping doctors at a bay. We live in times where information about nutrition, well-being, and fitness is as easily accessible as it is abundant. Want to start working out? Well, head over to YouTube and you can find just the video to get you started on your fitness journey and achieve your dream bod. Or, you could enrol in one of the many exciting at-home live interactive sessions—everything from zumba, to yoga, to HIITs. Wondering how to plan the perfect diet that incorporates seasonal and native foods? Your custom-tailored diet and recipes are just a Google search away.
Health primarily comprises how you move our body (exercise), your nutrition intake (the food you eat), the absence of diseases, and the ability to cope with and recover from diseases. Typically, conversations around health tend to focus only on physical fitness. However, health is more than just a striking physique; it also includes your mental and emotional well-being. All health enthusiasts already know how health is not merely a short-term goal but a long-term commitment.
Introducing Wellness into the Conversation
Let’s say you come across a 60 second reel of a striking body transformation that has you instantly motivated to begin your fitness journey. Understandably too. Who among us wouldn’t want to wake up with toned abs, defined biceps, and an appealing physique overall? What these 60 seconds do not show you is the consistency, the emotional commitment, and the conscious choices made each moment that go into getting there. Let’s say we do achieve all of this. What next?
The answer lies in understanding wellness. A holistic understanding of health involves bringing ‘wellness’ to the fore. Think of wellness as a conscious decision to make the right choices that elevate you to your true potential. It is about incorporating health in your routine to not just achieve short-term goals, but rather to construct an entire lifestyle. Wellness constitutes a desire for balance and a commitment to consistency. Your health is a pathway to your wellness.
An Insight Into Wellness: The 8 Pillars
There are different dimensions to wellness just like our health does. Let’s take a look at the 8 pillars of Wellness:
- Emotional: coping with the st resses and challenges of life
- Environmental: living in an environment that safeguards your well-being
- Financial: Meeting your financial goals; satisfaction with current financial situation
- Intellectual: expanding knowledge, creative abilities, and skills
- Occupational: contentment with your work; enriching the self
- Physical: Meeting the physical needs of body such as exercise, nutrition, sleep
- Social: having a strong and reliable support system; a sense of connection
- Spiritual: living with a sense of purpose and meaning
In a Nutshell
Information might be fluently available in our digital era but you know what they say- “Half-knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Social media and other online platforms can often set unrealistic fitness standards. Following every other trend that you see without understanding the interlink between health and wellness can bring more adverse effects than benefits. Remember, health is a continual process, not a race to be won.
Your fitness journey should be one where you can walk at your own pace and that gets you more in tune with yourself. The ultimate goal is introducing mindfulness into the fabric of your being, adopting the right choices, and finding contentment and joy in all that you do.
We curate for you quality and credible content to motivate you through each step of your fitness journey. Stay tuned for everything Health and Wellness!