Wellbeing: The Key to Being Well.

Wellbeing is something I never really bothered about much until recently. I always thought that doing the bare minimum when it comes to self-care was enough. During the pandemic, my wellbeing was on a rapid decline. I was waking up and sleeping at odd hours of the day, I was hardly speaking to anybody and my food range was unhealthy and on the troublesome side; 2 slabs of chocolate a week, fried food, and a lot of stress eating.

It was difficult, but during my personal development module this year I was tasked with developing a wellbeing plan and completing a wheel of life balance.

I identified a worrisome reality in the low score of my relationship/love life [2/10] and service/community attitude [4/10]. It seems as if I had spent the year focusing on those things that are materialistically important rather than putting the same effort in maintain current relationships and building new ones. I realised that for wellbeing to be successful, I need to maintain both the materialistic and sentimental aspects because the former is good for my ambition and goals, but the latter is crucial to my happiness and general self-care.

My being well routine

By practicing good wellbeing, I can feel lighter and freer because I can identify and eliminate my unneeded stressors, I can improve on my skills both personal and social and expand my knowledge. Having this in active practice, I can give myself a lot of comfort and recognition by acknowledging my own abilities, complimenting myself can give me a boost of confidence and through healing, I can practice my emotional intelligence, empathy and realise my self-worth. The most important thing that I remember now is that good wellbeing leads to a happier life, and a happier life means more appreciation for the little things and it also means that I have more time to do all the things I love.

In addition to this comes the concept of the third place – a place away from work and home – which contributes to maintaining great wellbeing and is any place outdoors where I can go to clear my head and recuperate my emotions and process whatever has happened prior to me going there. This could be the beach, a hiking trail, camping grounds and even the desert. My third place is somewhere I go to introspect so that I can gain clarity on the reality of my life up until that moment and find out what I can change and what practices I need to start adapting. The third place in combination with the wellbeing plan have significantly improved my overall mental and emotional health.

third place: