Wellness: A Personal Search

Achieving Wellness; a Personal Search

Wellness, when viewed as an idea, can be very complex and multidimensional since an exactly definition does not, and for that matter, can not apply to every individual in the same sense. Wellness should more so be seen as an overall feeling, a process with a pendulum that is constantly swinging back and forth. For to truly achieving a sense of wellness on a deeper more self fulfilling level, I feel that one cannot always be in the same state or for that matter will always be in the same state, whether its mind set wise, emotionally, physically, or even spiritually each day brings about new decisions and choices and with them new outcomes. Wellness should be viewed as a multistep process that combines not only the mind and body but also the everyday environmental settings of the individual and their choices.

Although the phenomenon of wellness has been around for many years, the definition and overall meaning associated with the term are ever-changing. Every scholar and/or promoter of healthy lifestyles has either adopted, of course with some variations another’s definition or created their own after careful examination of current definitions (Ardell, 2000). Wellness, throughout this brief paper will borrow from the current Transphilosophical model of wellness which states that “wellness is learning to discover and experience joy and pleasure, gaining self knowledge, empowering one’s self through self control, and making choices for growth and development” (Sadigh, 2001).

I have never really been one of those super health conscience individuals who constantly exercise, eat right, and just give off the sense of truly enjoying and embracing life and all it has to offer, yet this semester that changed. I began taking a psychology course with Micah, Optimal Wellness; Mind- Body Medicine: A Biopsychosocial Approach which led my interest into taking this course, Spirituality and Wellness. Both courses you could say let in some new found light onto how I was going about my everyday life. I think my true turning point came when one day Micah asked if any of us felt that we truly could not enjoy life or fell fulfilled till we had finished college and gotten our degrees…I was the only student to raise my hand, was there something wrong with me, was I missing a piece to the puzzle which everyone else obviously found, or was I just not enjoying all the little positive things around me because I was so focused on all the negative? At the time I didn’t know and to be quite honest I still don’t but I am on my way to understanding it.

I guess first thing first is a little insight into my everyday life as to grasp an understanding for its craziness. I am a full time student with a major in nursing, I also work part time (about 20 hours a week), and to top it all off I am a mother (my daughter is currently five) so my life is pretty busy and nonstop. I guess my biggest mistake was getting so caught up in the rush of it all I forgot to find “me” time or even pleasure in the tasks I was doing. So here is where I decided to put the Transphilosophical model to use.

The Transphilosophical model draws major ideas from four different philosophies, the first being the Epicurean philosophy which basically says that life is about pleasure and that we should bring pleasure into everything we do, we should live in the moment and not worry about past or future to do’s (Sadigh, 2001). Excellent idea, so I have tried to adjusted my daily tasks into a more pleasant manner. I have and still am trying to learn to just be satisfied with what I have right now in my life, a beautiful child, a great support system (family), health, life. All the little things most of us take for granted. I’ve learned not to be so negative and that sometimes placing to-do list off a little to have some fun isn’t always a bad thing as long as it doesn’t become a habit. Enjoying life is definitely an important step in my wellness model; it’s about not letting the moment slip away because I was too busy to open my eyes.

The second idea is the Socratic philosophy which states that life is about self knowledge and quiet reflection (Sadigh, 2001). An unexamined life is not worth living, we must find time to personally reflect on where we are in life and where we would like to be. Goal setting and goal reaching is the key concept I gripped here. Right now yes my life is tuff, busy, and filled with many sleepless nights but in a few years I’ll have completed my goals and will be able to give not only myself but