Wellness
"Sometimes self care is exercise and eating right. Sometimes it’s spending time with loved ones or taking a nap. And sometimes it’s watching an entire season of TV in one weekend while you lounge around in your pajamas. Whatever soothes your soul."
- Nanea Hoffman
Wellness is the individual pursuit of our own growth in the decisions we make, the actions we take and the way we choose to live our life; leading to a state of holistic well being.
Mental wellness is a purposeful approach to maintaining a healthy lifestyle; it is the deliberate act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to achieve positive mental thoughts, attitudes and behaviors.
Just because we are not mentally ill does not mean we are mentally well. Likewise, anyone with a diagnosed mental disorder, who has healthy relationships, feels happy, or functions well at a job can still have moderate or positive mental wellness. Stress, anxiety and loneliness are a few examples of emotions that impact our mental wellness.
When faced with uncertainty, discontentment or indifference, mental wellness provides resilience and better coping mechanisms for life’s adversities. Additionally, it is about navigating toward a deeper, richer and more meaningful experience, so instead of simply living, we are flourishing.
Do any of the following sound familiar?
- Is too much of your day consumed by stress, worry or loneliness?
- Are you avoiding the things you are struggling to cope with?
- Are you not functioning well at work?
- Are your current relationships good for you with healthy boundaries?
- Are you feeling unfulfilled?
“Your mental health is everything — prioritize it. Make the time like your life depends on it, because it does.”
- Mel Robbins
Those around you may not always understand your desire for growth, but that does not make it wrong. Surrounding yourself with people who lift you up is one of the greatest acts of self-love.
Rather than simply coping with what life throws our way or avoiding potentially negative situations and challenges, mental wellness can help shift our focus toward a more positive and empowering approach. It encompasses how we feel, think, function and connect with others. By improving our mental wellness, we can increase our capacity to manage our emotions, reduce our suffering, find contentment and joy and seek meaning, purpose and connection. Therapy has the capacity to change your life.