Wellness Dimensions

Wellness means so much more than physical health and staying active. It means paying attention to nutrition, understanding the importance of personal relationships, keeping good financial practices, appreciating the value of your work, and recognizing your purpose. Wellness is multidimensional and each dimension needs attention to truly flourish.

There are six dimensions of wellness:

• Emotional
• Financial
• Physical
• Occupational
• Social
• Purpose

Emotional

The emotional dimension involves recognizing, accepting, and taking responsibility for your feelings. It’s important to be attentive to your feelings and understand how to handle both positive and negative emotions. This allows you to improve your decision-making skills and allows you to build meaningful, supportive relationships with others. Strategies for improving emotional wellness include:

• Accept and forgive yourself
• Maintain a positive attitude (take things one day at a time)
• Practice stress management techniques
• Seek and accept support from others
• Practice being mindful
• Balance your other dimensions of wellness

Financial

The financial dimension of wellness involves identifying your relationship with money, building skills in managing resources, and establishing a retirement plan. Money plays a crucial role in your life so it’s important to learn how to successfully manage your finances. Financial stress and debt can cause stress and anxiety so developing a plan to maximize your financial wellness will benefit your overall health. Some financial wellness tips include:

• Don’t delay – address your financial problems now
• Keep organized records
• Set goals (keep a budget)
• Plan for retirement
• Keep an emergency fund
• Create a plan to pay off debt

Physical

The physical dimension involves encouraging regular activities that produce endurance, flexibility, and strength. It encompasses exercise, nutrition, getting regular medical checkups, and abstaining from harmful drug and alcohol abuse. Taking care of your physical health keeps your body in top condition which gives you more energy, increases self-esteem, and limits illness. For ways to improve your physical wellness:

• Exercise 
• Maintain a regular sleep schedule
• Recognize early signs of illness
• Eat a variety of healthy/colorful foods
• Control your portions
• Stop smoking

Occupational

The occupational dimension of wellness involves choosing a career/job that is rewarding and enjoyable. It allows you to maintain a positive attitude and experience satisfaction at your place of work. It’s also important in managing workplace stress. Choosing a career that fulfills you is incredibly important because working takes up the majority of your time during a week. For optimal occupational wellness:

• Explore a variety of career options
• Reflect on your occupational needs and set work/life boundaries
• Create career goals
• Choose a career that suits your personality, interests, and talents
• Be open to learning new skills
• Practice proper conflict management with your coworkers

Social

The social dimension of wellness involves developing nourishing and encouraging healthy relationships. Having a supportive social network around you allows you to develop important social skills and be comfortable interacting with others. It increases your self-worth, encourages communication and trust, and helps you practice active listening. To enhance this dimension:

• Reflect on your social needs
• Make an effort to stay in touch
• Communicate your thoughts, feelings, and ideas
• Join a club or organization
• Be mindful of the commitments you make and keep them

Purpose

The purpose dimension of wellness involves an “active pursuit” that is associated with intentions, choices, and actions to work toward an optimal state of health and wellbeing. It allows you to seek meaning in your life and motivates you to take care of all the other dimensions of your wellbeing. To help find your purpose:

• Write down the things that make you happy
• Spend time meditating
• Practice acceptance
• Be curious
• Be fully present

It’s important to address each of your wellness dimensions to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Here at OnSite Wellness, we create customized wellness programs for workplaces that tackle each of these dimensions. Please reach out to us to learn how we can help.