Wellness is a blanket word, it totally is, but it’s still going to get used today. And maybe you are sitting there thinking – wellness is extremely overwhelming because it’s “all the things”, and that’s just the truth – and yes it totally can, but I think there can be freedom in looking at the small parts and then developing a sense of big picture.
Largely in part, thanks to our ways of thinking, we pigeon-hole wellness into meaning a good nutritional plan and fitness discipline, however that is so far from the whole story. Now, hopefully after reading a few of these blog posts you’ve begun to realize how mental health plays an impact into whole wellness as well, and as a big proponent of community that has rippled into the content, however, that still isn’t everything it encompasses.
So creativity, cleanliness, and risk-taking here we go!
As of today we are in the middle of a one-week wellness challenge that was put together over the course of the past month. It incorporates it ALL, but a few of the prompts look like this:
- Spend 15 minutes journaling or another activity in the creative space (drawing, photographing, etc)
- Write a letter to an old friend and actually mail it. Hello Snail Mail!
- Watch the sun rise or set with a new vantage point.
- Cook a new recipe that seems so complicated that there is no way, or spend some time organizing a space that you’ve been dreaming of.
So why are these things so important? In a culture were convenience + busyness rules the day, and other people’s creativity counts as your own, YOU have to create space to stretch yourself in uncomfortable ways. Whether it’s writing a long letter to say all the things you’ve wanted to say, or venturing to a trail you’ve always wanted to check out, or putting yourself out there and creating a new dish or space, we’ve got to be willing to stretch!
Broken down simply, creativity engages that God-given imagination that social media try to steal away. Cleanliness, my mom always says that cleanliness is next to godliness, I imagine very few people had anxiety from a clean and fresh space to think and be. Then take risk-taking and adventure to help gain perspective on this beautiful Earth we live on, and it doesn’t begin to look like you are juggling so many things, it’s far more about creating a lifestyle that we stop sitting behind the confines of our screens and what other people are doing and display freedom.
So yes, wellness is the compilation of fitness, nutrition, mental health, creativity, perspective, cleanliness, community, etc, but it’s not 7 different solo acts (and probably so many more), it’s a beautiful compilation of how God wanted us to use life to the fullest! Think past obligation and into fullness and purpose. It’s beautiful inside and out.