We are glad you are taking this journey to wellness with us this summer! Before we get started, if you haven’t already, please take just 5 minutes to complete the Wellness Assessment. This assessment will lay the foundation for the wellness series and will be an integral part of what you’ll work through for the next few months. Don’t worry, you won’t be placed on a mailing list, but you will need to provide some demographic information in order to download your report once complete.
For me (Mike Nowlin—Director of Operations at IHS), the hardest part of getting to a healthier place is simply taking the time to reflect, self-assess, and to be honest with ourselves (and others) about how we are really doing. It is so easy to sway an assessment more positively, to be in conversation with friends and not share the difficult stuff in our lives, to use time-wasting fillers (TV and travel planning are two biggies for me) or numbing agents (one more gin and tonic won’t hurt, right?) to cope. But can we admit our tendencies toward time-wasting and numbing behaviors when we know we are craving something more meaningful? Acknowledging such behaviors is an important step, but more importantly, we need to understand what it is that we are seeking or needing and not finding, rather than covering up the associated feelings. What behaviors have you been relying on in recent months? Can you identify the deeper need(s) underlying their use?
Ok, so you are probably thinking… “What? We have to go that deep? I think I will see what’s on TV right now!” All joking aside, if we are going to make progress, we have to know what it is that we really want or are seeking at our core so we can get enroute to our desired destination. It is often difficult to acknowledge to ourselves, let alone, to another, that we feel lonely, disconnected, emotionally depleted, exhausted, financially strapped, etc. But having experienced some of these feelings this past year, and still doing so regularly, it is so incredibly freeing and unlocks us at our core to seek out the good stuff…what we are truly in need of…human connection, community, emotional and physical health, etc. to enhance our feeling of well-being.
The Wellness Wheel (as used by the University of NH) helps us to identify our areas of strength as well as those in which we need to dedicate some time and energy to. How did you score? Do any of the areas stand out to you as needing some attention (red or yellow scores)? Or, are your scores all green but you want to further improve your overall wellness? If you were to prioritize one or two wellness categories for the summer, which one(s) would you choose? In looking at these results you could conclude that it might be best to prioritize financial or environmental wellness to help improve those scores. For me, I plan to prioritize the Social category as my time is regularly consumed by work, my teenagers, board member activities, and other commitments. At first glance, the path ahead does not seem clear, but as I explore my time-wasting behaviors noted above, I’m sure I will have ample time to increase my meaningful connections with those who are my “community.”
Today you have taken some significant steps toward wellness by completing the assessment, doing some reflection, and beginning to think about the areas you seek to improve. It is important to look at this process as a long-distance trip with stops along the way vs. a sprint. We are ultimately looking for sustainable progress over time. As noted last week, we tend to do better with changing behaviors when we are accountable. If you’d like to learn more about the eight categories and better understand your wellness report, download the 12-page guide here
Please join us and be part of our summer wellness challenge. REGISTER TODAY! Stay tuned each week as we will be sharing many wellness resources. We look forward to hearing about the personal growth you are making this summer! Drop us a note and share your progress at info@ihs-trainet.com.
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