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Episode 2: Dimensions of Wellness and Health

Updated: Jan 24


A graphic titled ‘8 Dimensions of Wellness’ featuring eight colorful geometric shapes arranged in a circular pattern around the title. Each shape represents a different dimension of wellness, labeled as Emotional, Physical, Spiritual, Mental, Environment, Work, Social, and Money, with corresponding colors for each category.
8 Dimensions of Wellness

Welcome to the Wellness in Every Season of Motherhood podcast where we explore what it means to achieve total wellness. I am your host, Autumn Carter. This podcast is geared more towards mothers, but we try to be inclusive of all here as we learn together to get us out of survival mode and into thriving during life transitions.


This is episode two. Welcome, Wellness Wanderers. Today we are going to be discussing what the seven areas of wellness are and surprise. When I was studying this, there are actually now eight areas of wellness, also called dimensions. So I will be introducing an eighth area during this episode.


We will start by discussing what wellness is, who created the seven areas of wellness, why I love it, how to stay in balance, and how to know when you are out of balance with a self-assessment I use in a coaching practice at the end.


What is wellness? Wellness is not the absence of disease, but the active development of all parts that make up you, you as an entire person. It is a way of living life on purpose and it can prevent early aging. When you are feeling out of balance, chances are high that one or more areas of your life are being neglected. Neglecting one area long term can cause health issues and cause the

other areas to also fall into a deficit or lower than thriving area. Think areas of self-care how to take care of yourself. The National Institute of Wellness defines wellness in these ways. Wellness is a conscious, self-directed, and evolving process of achieving one's full potential. I really like that one.


Wellness encompasses lifestyle, mental and spiritual well-being and the environment. Wellness is positive, affirming, meaning giving you positive thoughts and contributes to living a long and healthy life. Wellness is multicultural and holistic involving multiple dimension areas.


Who developed the areas of wellness? Dr. William Hetler developed the Six Dimensions of Wellness in 1976. He was the co-founder of the National Wellness Institute, which is why I quoted them earlier and I will be quoting them more. He came up with the six dimensions of physical, intellectual, occupational, spiritual, social, and emotional.


Many colleges teach the eight areas or dimensions of wellness now. Where I first learned it was in college and it's a impact on me. It was just a huge light bulb moment to realize that each area impacted the other area and that we can be a whole person and not be lopsided and how it prevents early aging and it can help us to help the areas around us that we're in, the environments around us that we're in.


It can help us to show up as our full selves, fully ready to engage in the world around us to make the world a better place. So still talking about environments here. And it can help us to be a good example to others around us, which as mothers, that is so important when we have kids.


And it just made me feel like this is it, this is what I want to learn more about, and this is what I really want to teach. And dimension, according to dictionary.com, is a measurable extent of some kind.


So think about that when you're thinking about each dimension and whether you're in a positive or a negative in each of your dimensions.


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Are you ready to make life changes? Make lasting progress in areas of your life where you have only made Band-Aid fixes before? I help people who are stuck in life transitions, create balance, find fulfillment, and transition into the life they were afraid to reach for. I currently have room for four weekly one-on-one coaching clients. Head over to wellnessineveryseason.com to schedule a free coaching consultation before the spots are filled.


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Let's talk briefly about what the areas of wellness are while thinking about where you live, work, learn, play, and reflect. I will dive deep into each area of wellness

in future episodes, and I have some interviews coming up with different people.


The emotional wellness dimension is the awareness and acceptance of your feelings as well as those of others around you. How positive and excited you feel about your life and how well you manage your feelings and behaviors, how quickly you assess your limitations and how well you regulate your feelings.

It makes me think of the Daniel the Tiger song, "when something feels bad, turn it around", I will not sing it for you. The degree of authentic and satisfying relationships with others is another gauge for this area.


Social wellness focuses on connecting with others while actively participating in one's community, thinking of others, maintaining awareness of important roles in society, as well as the impact one has within multiple environments, seeking out opportunities to strengthen relationships in places of work, school, residence, play, and reflection.


Occupational wellness, or job, takes into account the personal satisfaction and

growth a person receives from their employment, education, and volunteer

activities, following or forging the path that leads into future opportunities that

align with values, interests, and beliefs, looking into the future and weighing the

likelihood that the current career path will continue to be personally meaningful and professionally rewarding.


Environmental wellness reflects on the health of relationships the person has with place of work, school, residence, play, and reflection, as well as the resources of the planet. According to Clark College, it means protecting yourself from environmental hazards such as noise, chemicals, pollution, and ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation or UV radiation is emitted by the Sun and tanning beds. It also means caring for and organizing your personal and professional spaces so you are productive and free of unnecessary stress, conserving resources, and leading a lifestyle that is respectful of your immediate surroundings, the community in which you live, and the planet. That was kind of a long one but these next ones are a little bit shorter.


Spiritual wellness searches for meaning and purpose and the value in our human existence. Those who are well developed in this dimension are confident in their chosen beliefs, respect the choice of others, and seek understanding.


Intellectual wellness is about participating in creative, stimulating activities to learn and grow. It is also about sharing unique talents with others. It is about lifelong learning through seeking out and challenging your mind with new and harder activities, learning from past experiences, staying curious, and problem solving. And this one was really important during my schooling, and we had many videos on it and different lessons just talking about how this can prevent your mind from aging prematurely.


My degree is in applied health, so this one is also very important. It's the physical wellness dimension. It focuses on physical self-care and participating in a variety of health-focused behaviors such as regular physical activity, eating healthy, healthy sleep habits, staying up to date on medical professional visits, and making time for rest. This is about proactivity.


The newest dimension is called the financial dimension and it is about budgeting which according to your wallet is an estimate of how much money you'll make and spend over a certain period of time and managing money in a way that is healthy. Nurturing this dimension means developing a healthy relationship with finances.


And there you have it those are the eight dimensions of wellness and usually an improvement in one area will result in an improvement in other areas because they are interrelated. The same can be said when an area is neglected. When one area is neglected, the other area starts to get a little bit lower and can become neglected as well. The best way to keep in balance in these areas is to develop daily habits and routines and to do self check-ins. Make sure that each area is doing better.


And make sure your daily environments and you are in balance with each other.

And this can be really hard when living or working in toxic environments and we will talk about that further as we dive deeper into certain dimensions and now we are to the coaching questions part of the podcast.


These are to help you assess each area of your life. I highly recommend pausing and grabbing out pen and paper or grabbing out the next notes section of your phone. And we are going to rate each area from 1 to 10 using 1 as the lowest level of satisfaction.


10 is the highest and we are rating the emotional, social than occupational, environmental, spiritual, intellectual, physical, financial. And make sure you leave room because we have more questions to go with this. How would you like each of your life to change in the next three to six months?


And then here are three questions the National Institute of Wellness uses to gauge professionals and organizations who are using their areas of wellness.

Does this help individuals achieve their full potential?

Does this recognize and address multiple dimensions of wellness?

Does this affirm and mobilize an individual's unique qualities and strengths?


To summarize, we discussed who created the original six areas of wellness, each of the eight areas of wellness, as they are now eight. Why are they important? How to stay in balance? And we used my coaching self-assessment to see where you are in a positive state and a negative state.


Starting next week, we will do a deep dive into each area and we'll be using the National Institute's assessment of each area to help you find ways to improve the areas you want to work on. I will also be including more coaching questions and I am working on getting guests to help me present some of these areas so stay tuned.


Thank you for joining our wellness discussion this week with Autumn Carter.

If you liked what you heard follow me on Instagram @wellnessineveryseason to keep up with the latest wellness tips for moms. Please share the podcast Love with Others by sharing, subscribing, and leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want a topic covered in more detail or a free coaching consultation, please DM me on Instagram or send an email through my website, wellness@everyseason.com. I look forward to connecting with you. Please join the discussion next week.



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