The Road to Total Wellness

When our conversations turn toward topics of health and wellness, two things bubble to the top immediately – our nutrition and our exercise habits. While large components of our health and well-being, there is so much involved that makes us healthy and well.

The term holistic carries some different connotations to everyone. In its basic sense, a holistic approach simply means that you view your health and wellness as a whole package rather than pieces or individual aspects. Wellness is much more than just what you eat and what exercise class you plan to attend; wellness is you, everything around you and how it all interacts.

The idea of wellness goes far beyond diet, exercise, and medical check-ups. One model of wellness lays equal importance upon what you DO to be well, what you KNOW about being well, how you FEEL about being well, and what being well allows you to BECOME.

Doing
This is the physical aspect of your wellness and does include your diet and activities. Additionally, this includes your medical treatment and prevention activities – seeing your doctor, dentist, eye doctor, and completing appropriate screening activities. This encompasses everything you actually do to improve, enhance, or maintain your wellness.

Knowing
This is the mental aspect of your wellness. Knowledge is power and the more you know about your wellness, your risk factors, your behavior, and yourself, the better equipped you become to face challenges. This area includes visiting with a health educator, asking questions of your doctor, attending classes, reading or research, or anything you can do to increase your knowledge of yourself and everything around you.

Feeling
This is the emotional aspect of your wellness and often forgotten. You can be anywhere and have someone tell you what you should do or how to do, but rarely are you asked how you feel about those things or what it all means to you. To truly be well, your emotions and feelings about you and all that is around you must be considered and addressed.

Becomming
This is the spiritual aspect of your wellness and sometimes the most difficult to understand and consider. Here, you begin to understand what wellness allows you to be and how you identify and value yourself at home, at work, in social settings, and to yourself. Becoming well is more about your potential and living up to or beyond what you feel is possible.

So, the next time you think about your wellness and how you are doing, consider more than just the candy bar that you ate yesterday or that you missed your workout this morning. Think about all of YOU and what that means.

Have Questions?
CCMH's Wellness Department works to reduce health risks and promote overall wellness among employee groups and individuals across the northeastern Wyoming region. To learn more about Wellness, please visit ccmh.net/Wellness or call 307.688.8051.