How often does a conversation start exactly like this?
"Hi Joe. It's been a while, how are you doing?"
"I've been well, thank you."
"Well" may be the most subjective word we use. Try to pin it down and it splits into two ideas that aren't the same thing at all:
- Wellness is the proactive part, the active pursuit of the lifestyle choices that build holistic health: diet, movement, sleep, stress management, and more.
- Well-being is how it feels, your overall life satisfaction and your own sense of your quality of life.
You're the sole judge of your own answer. And staying well enough to give a confident, wholehearted "Yes, I am WELL" can be close to a full-time job, especially across the years of Seniorhood. The good news: it's a job you don't have to do alone, and it breaks down into manageable parts.
The eight dimensions of wellness
Wellness experts organize that "full-time job" into dimensions, most commonly eight, though some frameworks stretch to twelve. At VyKare we use the core eight as a working checklist, so nothing that matters to your well-being slips through the cracks. They line up neatly under the three realms at the heart of everything we do.