By Terry Orr
“Health
is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely
the absence of disease or infirmity.” ~World
Health Organization, 1948
“Wellness is the conscious and
deliberate process by which people are actively involved in enhancing their
well-being: intellectual, physical, social, emotional, occupational and
spiritual” ~ Hatfield
Social Wellness
(family, community and environment) –
focuses on how you choose to define and connect with your community and the
people around you.
Physical –your body's health, which involves nutrition, exercise, promoting
over-all safety and wellness, and preventing physical illness.
Spiritual (values and ethics)
– to understanding your place and purpose, how you make meaning of what happens
to you, and what your mind goes to for comfort and relief.
Intellectual – means feeling
stimulated and engaged with learning and staying open to new ideas and
perspectives.
Emotional – involves being aware of and
managing your feelings, being at peace with who you are, and having the tools
you need to weather life’s ups and downs.
Occupational – is the work you
choose to do and how you feel it contributes to your community and fulfills
you.
According to Work
Smart. Life Smart –
July is Social Wellness Month and it reminds us that we
need to reach out to others and build stronger social ties with family and
friends. Social Wellness encourages us to develop better communications with
those around us including the ability to share our feelings and needs. It
involves respecting yourself and others and developing a solid social support
system.
Social Wellness takes planning and effort to carve out
time for those activities, as they may not happen naturally in today’s hectic
world. We know from our research that socially isolated people are more
susceptible to illness and have a death rate two to three times higher than
those who are not socially isolated.
However people who maintain their social network and support systems do
better under stress and are physically and mentally healthier. They even achieve higher grade point
averages.
So how important in Social Wellness in our daily life – one
indication is the explosion of social media over the past decade. According to eBizMBA the three top Social
Media Sites (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) average about 1.1 Billion visits
each month – that is nearly one in seven people globally. Folks reaching out to others – finding common
ground – communicating – sharing – building relationships – a virtual
family/home.
What we are all looking for – is balance in our lives –
while sounding fairly straight forward – with our daily lives, most folks deal
with the ever increasing demands on their time – and finding true balance is all
to often is simply not possible. The
challenge is to prioritizes things best we can – and review what really and
truly are the important things in our lives.
References and Links:
(Photos from
Google)
