Incorporating wellness into our daily routine helps me to find that work/life balance we all need to gain clarity on our personal and professional goals.
Photo by Maria Orlova
Grief, exhaustion, anxiety among so many other things stops us from reaching our goals or even getting by day to day. Even if we are lucky enough not to experience those feelings having a wellness plan helps prepare and adapt for what may come in the future but wellness can mean different things to everybody and there is no one size fit all approach.
It has been my mission for some time to advocate for ways in which we can be better at wellness whilst still achieving our career goals and in this search I have discovered the following elements that bring together essentials that I apply to my daily routine.
Physical Health
Nutrition - If we don't eat the right foods for our body how can we expect to see progress, gain more focus and feel good within ourselves? Since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease and sticking to a strict gluten free diet, I have been discovering how much food has an impact on me. It's not simply about filling an empty stomach for me anymore, it's about getting the right nutrition to nourish my body.
Movement - daily movement whether that is just walking is simply enough in my view, I used to pressurize myself to do intense exercise at least 4 times per week but it's more about simple movement and not about calories or targeting specific areas of my body, this didn't work for me in the long run.
Recovery - I don't mean binge watching a netflix tv show, I mean real recovery such as getting the right amount of sleep.
Mental Health
Mindfulness - negative thoughts can take over and become you if you let them, it is sometimes difficult to see the positivity in something, but it is easy to catastrophize everything when you see only negativity in the media. I think there is always a solution or way around something, and we have to focus on what we can control rather than the things we can't.
Setting intentions - if we don't set intentions each day then our days become less structured and then it's easy to let go of some of the things that keep us motivated. I learnt this lesson during lockdown and after when remote working became the norm for me.
Occupation
Your career I believe is important, it is one of things in life that gives us purpose. It is separate to home life and a place where we can develop skills and set professional goals. For some people that might be purely financial but for others it is a chance to prove yourself to people outside of your friends and family.
Social
Without social connections, it can be lonely, and feeling connected to others through common interests I think is essential. Even when working from home, we need to feel socially connected in person to other people. That's why I take advantage of co-working spaces where I can meet like-minded people and sign up for classes to do things outside of work.
Environment
Our connection with the environment is central to everything and how we survive day to day and is still underrated when it comes to understanding how it affects our overall health.