𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐯𝐬. 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠: turns out, wellness is an important element of my overall well-being. I’ll admit it—I started this journey like most of us do: scrolling through articles on the internet. I know, not always the most reliable way to research something as personal as health and life balance, but it was a low-barrier way to start asking myself some important questions💭. Everywhere online, people were talking about wellness, and I kept wondering how it really connects to well-being.
The more I read, the clearer it became: wellness is an important element of my overall well-being. Wellness describes a healthy lifestyle beyond acute illness. It’s having the physical energy and ability to do what I want without constant suffering. And while it means something slightly different at every age, it’s often rooted in the same habits—what I eat, how I move, and how well I sleep.
I realized I wanted to enter myself into this conversation—not just as a reader, but as a participant. I wanted to evaluate my own wellness and well-being, and see where it took me. To do that, I leaned on five elements of wellbeing as a simple checklist. Each one was harder to answer than I thought. The key was the actual "thinking"🤔.
1. Career Well-being – You like what you do every day.
I asked myself: Do I like how I spend most of my days? To test this, I carved out an hour one morning to work be creative. That single step reminded me how much energy comes from doing something I truly enjoy—not just something work fodder.
2. Social Well-being – Do I have meaningful friendships in my life?
I reached out to a friend I hadn’t seen in months and just jumped in the car and drove 3.5 hours to visit her. It wasn’t brain surgery, but that simple act filled me with more warmth and connection than another evening of mind numbing-scrolling ever could.
3. Financial Well-being – I manage my money well but don't deep dive as it relates to long-term. Instead of avoiding it, I reviewed last month’s spending and finally got a referral of a financial advisor. The peace of mind I got from that conversation was rewarding. This guy just wanted to talk me through it, no charge. WHA? The good news is I’m on track. I've done some legwork.
4. Physical Well-being – Do I have the energy to get things done? Meh. I started with something manageable: committing to a 40-minute walk after dinner five times a week. Nothing extreme, but enough to shake off the day and sleep more soundly at night. A cold shower at the end of a work day also really makes a difference.
5. Community Well-being – Do I like where I live?
I looked at my neighborhood with fresh eyes. Instead of driving to a farmers market 15 minutes from my house, I chose to walk to the farmers’ market one Saturday. It made me feel more rooted in my community and more grateful for where I am right now….despite paying $10.00 for some %$# cucumbers🫩.

A Work in Progress💃😄😢🎧🌊🏊‍♀️
What I learned is this: life is constantly shifting. Careers evolve, friendships ebb and flow, finances stretch, and health has its ups and downs. At the least, I asked the questions. I am continually surprised how rarely I sit still and ask myself meaningful questions about where the hell I’m going and why.
It’s impossible to “figure it all out” every single day but I'm spending every single day thinking about it so...I did "something" at least. But using this framework gave me a valuable starting point—a first step in seeing how wellness fits into my bigger picture of well-being.

Highly suggest Adele "I Drink Wine" on repeat*

And that’s enough for today💓.