What IS Wellness, Anyway?

Behind the words is Erinn Chang, a Westchester resident and wellness industry veteran. Her articles are based on 20 years of intense and diverse experience providing wellness services to thousands of clients.

We’re kicking things off with the super important basics: What IS wellness, anyway?!

There’s a ton of info and content out there about wellness these days — lots of TV shows, TIk Toks,  and IG posts touting the idea of “wellness”, telling us how to achieve wellness, and saying what we should do to be more “well”… it can all be pretty overwhelming or feel out of reach!

So here is a way to sift through the wellness TMI overload and arrive at a meaningful way of defining wellness in a way that makes sense to YOU!

Wellness can be applied to so many things in life…physical wellness, mental wellness, emotional wellness, family wellness, professional wellness, relationship wellness,  live well, be well … I mean it’s everywhere! And each of those concepts means something a little different to each of us unique gals.

Those key aspects I refer to are: body, mind, emotions, spirit, people, living environment. I love this graphic for depicting those key components:

In other words, total wellness involves a blend of all the major things that make up your life and who you are!  Wellness is not a destination to reach or a goal to achieve, it is an evolving process over time. Wellness develops through proactive pursuits — things like how you spend your time, who you spend your time with, where you spend your time, the hobbies or activities you do, ways you take care of yourself.

Wellness is what happens when you cultivate and nurture all your key aspects to thrive!

No one else can really define for you what wellness means to you… that power of defining wellness lies within you! you have the power and wisdom to craft your own unique concept of what wellness means to you, right now, at this point in your life.

Here’s how to formulate your own personal definition of wellness:

Step 1: Reflect on the key aspects of yourself and your life (you could even write them down!) Think about the externals like people, places, activities; and the qualities that make you who you are, like your mind, spirit, heart, and body.

Step 2: Consider what it means to feel good, healthy, or fulfilled in each of those aspects.

Step 3: Based on those reflections and considerations, you now have a clear idea of all the key aspects that blend together to make up the whole picture of your wellness, and what it is to thrive in each of those aspects.