8 Guiding Principles of Personal Wellness

My own journey of discovering what personal wellness is and what it means to me

- James

10/13/20248 min read

Wellness… a term that I feel you read or hear about so often these days. So many fitness plans, diet trends, meal plans, mindful techniques, yoga, meditation, therapies & etc. These things you’re supposed to be doing for yourself, all on top of working, paying bills, helping to take care of your family and so on. I’m exhausted just thinking about all of that right now. Wellness is not supposed to be something that causes stress and anxiety. Wellness is about taking care of ones self to ensure you’re happy and healthy, however that looks for you.

However, today with social media, it’s so easy to compare your life to someone else’s and feel inadequate. To feel that you’re not doing enough. I’m here to say… STOP! Stop now because comparing your life to someone else’s because what you are going through is entirely different. Your on your own journey. We all are doing the best we can, each day. Depending on your life situation - just getting up and taking a shower can be a huge accomplishment… trust me, I’ve been there.

Back in 2017, there were a number of events that happened, which triggered quite a few shifts in my life. The biggest one though was my father being diagnosed with ALS which if you’re not familiar with it, it’s a fatal neurological disorder. When you are faced with death, either yourself or a loved one, you’re mindset shifts. For some - it’s a fleeting feeling. You think about it in the moment or the days afterwards, but then you go about your daily life. Others embrace every day and set out on a course to live their life to the fullest each day.

I felt like a hybrid mix of those two feelings. I don’t dwell on death, but it’s something I do think about from time to time. But I’m also not running out and skydiving either. I’d be perfectly fine and content with never jumping out of a plane in my life. But kudos to those that do that. The feeling however that I just couldn’t shake was the feeling that I needed to live my life with purpose. What did I want my life to look like when I reflect back in the end? What can I do today to make that happen? How can I live a fulfilled life? It was here that my journey into wellness started.

I remember searching online late at night terms like, “How to live a well lived life?”, “Self-Care Tips”, and “Tools for self-care.” Looking for information that I can use to start bettering my life. What eventually happened though - I gave up. There was just so much information and I didn’t know how to do all of it. It just felt like such a daunting task ahead of me.

With everything I had been going through with my father, my husband and I had started the legal process for him to become a legal resident in the US. We didn’t know what the outcome would be. It could lead us to having to move out of the country which could of happened while my father was sick. Or it could happen after his passing which meant that I’d also have to leave my family while grieving the loss of my father. I was also feeling the need to change at work because I wasn’t being fulfilled like I used to be. I didn’t know what else I could do though. I was doubting myself and not feeling like I was capable of doing something other than selling travel. I was also gaining a lot of weight and there were other external factors happening in the world at the time which I was feeling the affects of - it was a lot handle.

By the summer of 2017 - I was under an immense amount of pressure and my body couldn’t take it. I became sick while at a work conference in Boston. My stomach was in such pain and it got to the point where I didn’t feel comfortable going out anywhere. I really just wanted to stay home all the time. If I was asked to hang out with friends, I’d make up excuses. I’d only go to places where I felt safe knowing there’d be a bathroom available because I felt my stomach would act up at any minute.

The anxiety of daily life, the fear of the unknown with my husbands legal case, the feelings I had due to my father’s illness - all of it, I’d feel each and every single day in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to better my life, but not knowing how and feeling stuck caused me to fall into a depression. There were days that I would get up and stay in bed most of the day or just go from the bed to the couch. I’d eat my feelings away while binging on shows.

However, while all this was going on. I did make an important life decision. I had decided to start therapy. I still remember my first session. I walked into the office, sat on her leather couch and my therapist told me, “Ok - tell me what’s going on. What brings you in?” Then it all just came pouring out. I could have sat there for hours just unloading all of it. Being able to talk to someone who you don’t even know and that will have no judgment is so liberating. She helped me work through some of the emotions I was having with my father’s diagnosis, the anxieties of my husband’s immigration case and coping mechanisms to help me keep grounded in the present moment and not spiral. She helped me to learn about the powerful connection between the mind and the stomach and how stress & anxiety can have a direct effect on your physical body.

By doing some of the work on myself - it reignited that passion I had for bettering myself. I had slowly started to see the differences therapy was making in how I was processing things. The way I was acting and reacting to situations now made more sense. My stomach had started to feel better and I was getting back out there with friends and family. I was back to searching terms online and came across one that resonated with me, “Personal Wellness.”

Personal Wellness is not just about individual aspects of one’s health like exercise, diet, meditation, and therapy. It’s about a multitude of areas of wellness that make up your overall wellbeing. These areas are all interconnected to one another and affect each other in varying degrees. It’s not just tied to your actual physical self like your physical health and diet, but it’s also tied to your financial health, environmental surroundings, and even your occupation.

When I came across this way of wellness, it all made sense. Because I was not just looking for a way to fix one area of my life. I was looking for a way to better my entire life and I needed a guiding principle. Something I could break things down into and something that made sense.

You may be asking, well what are the different aspects of Personal Wellness that make up everyone’s entire life? I’ve listed the 8 principles of wellness below with what they mean to me. These are not in any specific order of importance because remember, they are all equally important and they all affect each other.

  • Financial Wellness

    • The state of one’s personal financial situation. It’s really important to sit down and be honest with yourself about your finances. Where you’re at and what your goals are. Your overall wellness is not defined by how much money you have in the bank or assets you own. Financial wellness is about making sure you know what you spend your money on, ensuring your bills are paid on time, building up credit, and saving for goals.

  • Social Wellness

    • Being social is part of the human experience. We connect with people each and every single day whether you’re with your family, friends, co-workers, and strangers. Some of us may be a bit more introverted and that’s totally fine. I look at that as being really selective with who you spend your time with because the energy it takes. Then you have extroverts that get their energy from others and love meeting new people and putting themselves out there.

  • Physical Wellness

    • This is the most common and well known form of wellness. Physical relates to your actual physical health as it pertains to your body. From exercise & diet to annual physical exams. This does not mean you have to hit the gym 5 days a week and go hard core and cut out all carbs. Everyone’s physical wellness journey is their own and if that means you go to the gym once a week, but do walks on your lunch break - that’s great!

  • Mental & Emotional Wellness

    • I’ve listed Mental & Emotional together because they are tied to each other, but they each have their own individual meaning. One’s mental state is about the mind’s health and how well one can manage responsibilities, make good decisions, problem solve and process information. Whereas the emotional side is about recognizing, managing and expressing your reactions or feelings.

  • Environmental Wellness

    • The environment you have around you is not just about the neighborhood you live in, but it’s about what you surround yourself with at home, school, work or where ever you spend most of your time. It could be the people you surround yourself with, the cleanliness of your home, or the working conditions of your job.

  • Intellectual Wellness

    • As kids, we’re in a constant state of learning because of school. But as we become adults, we have to make time and put in more of an effort to learn and try new things. This could be to pick up hobbies like drawing, photography, learning an instrument or a new language. Learning only helps to strengthen our mind and to have a little fun along the way.

  • Spiritual Wellness

    • This can be a very personal area of your overall wellbeing. What you may believe in religiously can be a guiding light in your life. But for me, spiritual wellness is more about reconnecting with myself. Using moments of reflection to think back on my life and processing my emotions. Finding my inner peace has been a really important part of my journey because it’s provided me a sense of calm, acceptance, and resilience in life’s challenges. Some may also use meditation or mindfulness practices to help find that inner peace

  • Occupational Wellness

    • This is all about finding joy & fulfillment in your job or career that aligns with personal values and goals while maintaining your work-life balance. Most people work 40 hours per week, but that can vary depending on your profession. What you do for a living has a profound impact on your entire life in all areas, so you need to make sure you are doing something that you truly enjoy. I know, sometimes it’s easier said than done because of other responsibilities you may have in your life. But if you do not enjoy what you are doing and you are passionate about doing something else, look into doing that as a side business or hobby for now. Maybe some day that will take off and can become your primary job.

Sometimes, due to life, you may have to dedicate some time, energy and resources to one area of wellness in your life versus the others. This could cause some areas to suffer, but once things calm down, you can then work on rebalancing everything else. Personal Wellness is all about ebb and flow. You do not have to do everything perfect, all at once. Picture these wellness areas as your guiding light for your life to better understand where you are at and where you want to be.

Each area of wellness supports the ongoing pursuit of becoming a better person, embracing change and continually evolving - principles central the the Always Onward mindset. By nurturing all aspects of wellness, you create a strong foundation for lifelong progress.