What is Wellness Anyway?

‘I’m working on my wellness’…’but what does that even mean?’

I am sure that if you have spent any time on social media, watching tv or just talking to anyone for that matter you have heard it been said, ‘You should really start focusing on increasing your wellness’. That’s a nice sentiment but, what the heck does that actually mean? What is wellness? Can it be measured by a blood test or some form of scanning of the body? Are there wellness levels and if so, how do you know what your wellness levels are? Is it fatal if your wellness levels are low? Ok, I might be having a little too much fun at the expense of a term that is thrown around in the day-to-day lexicon with seemingly no agreed upon definition - but on a serious note, what is wellness, and does it matter? 

The concept of wellness is actually a known concept, but it is not just one thing. In reality it is a way of ‘being’ and is made up of ‘subcategories’ that are personal to each individual. I know that does not clear most of the confusion but stick with me on this point. In January of 2001, Charles Corbin and Robert Pangrazi, two researchers from Arizona State University published a paper titled, ‘Toward a Uniform Definition of Wellness: A Commentary’. The researchers looked to set the groundwork for developing a scientifically agreed upon definition of “wellness. The concept that Corbin and Pangrazi proposed is the concept that most individuals that study ‘wellness’ tend to agree with and imply when looking at ways to understand an individual’s sense of wellness. Ok, but how does that help you? 

Well, let's look at the all-important subcategories to see how each subcategory applies to your life and how ‘focusing on your wellness’ can be beneficial. The subcategories are made up of 6 to 8 domains depending on the researcher and the focus of the individual or groups assessing “wellness” measures. For here, I think it will be more important to focus on the 6 domains as these are traits or states that an individual can have the most control of in his or her life. The 6 domains include emotional, physical, spiritual, social, intellectual and environmental. Now, one shrewd individual might be confused because I wrote, ‘...the 6 domains…are traits or states that an individual can have the most control of in his or her life.’ How can someone control his or her environment or physical state of being? While this might be seen as a problem, it comes down to how the 'environment’ and ‘physical state of being’ is defined. 

Each of the 6 domains are defined in relation to how the individual interacts with the domain and what about the domain does the individual control. All other aspects do not matter when assessing the concept of wellness. Your ability to choose your environment such as choosing to stay in the bedroom doom scrolling for hours vs being out in nature. This also applies to choosing to self-limit your body’s unique physical abilities vs working to train and care for your body and explore its unique physical potential. When you alter your understanding of how each of the 6 domains could affect your life in a more positive way, and you begin to take steps to maximize each one of these domains, your new increased focus on your wellness ends up changing your life.