To me, wellness is so much more than what it is made out to be on social media. Wellness comes not from doing pilates or eating your greens; true wellness, I believe, comes from the joy of believing in yourself and caring for yourself enough to make your dreams your reality.
movement
Movement is the way I care for myself enough to make my dreams a reality. Whether it be a trail run, lifting heavy weights, yoga, or a walk in my favorite neighborhood, moving my body everyday provides me with the space to connect with nature and with myself. When I’m moving I am able to think freely, visualize what I want my future to look like, and bring myself to a space where I feel confident and ready to take on the day in front of me.
Find essays, lessons I have learned, and quotes I want to share about movement here.
self
My relationship to myself is truly the foundation of my wellness: body and mind. Over the last few years my relationship to myself has shifted from one of criticism and self-deprecation to one rooted in compassion and understanding.
Building loving relationships with ourselves takes work. For me it has involved removing the old and unhealthy verbiage I used to speak to myself with from my vocabulary, choosing to believe in myself and my worth a little bit more than I don’t, and slowly releasing myself from the pressure I have long felt to strive for and achieve perfection.
True and honest wellness comes from the commitment to a process of getting to know yourself, learning to accept yourself, and being honest with yourself about how your current behavior and daily routines are no longer serving you.
Our relationships to ourselves are ever-evolving and my thoughts and feelings about everything that comes with that evolution are all here.
relationships
I’ll be honest, there are times when I wish relationships weren’t such an integral part of fostering true wellness, because relationships can be hard, heartbreaking, and bring with them a whole host of challenges that sometimes feel like the antithesis of wellness: conflict, gossip, toxicity.
But, relationships also bring with them so much joy, so much opportunity for growth, and so much life. So many of my favorite moments in life have been experienced in the company of others. It’s important though that the relationships you build and the people you let into your life lift you up, challenge you to consider and hold multiple perspectives on issues that matter to you, and that celebrate you for who you are and don’t ask you to stifle your quirks, your passions, or your dreams to make others comfortable.
For so long (and if I’m being completely honest, I still struggle with this sometimes) I didn’t believe enough in my worth or in what I bring to the table in relationships to feel comfortable and confident in them. I worried that my interests weren’t interesting, my laugh was too loud and my humor wasn’t funny, or that I was just too much. But, when I finally let my guard down and let myself just be, let myself have fun experiencing life with other people, and let myself believe that I am not too much, relationships became fun and felt necessary.
Learning to believe in yourself and your worth, and learning to believe that you are worthy of supportive relationships is a process, but it’s one that I believe is part of wellness.
Lessons I have learned, struggles I have and am currently facing, and quotes that have inspired me on the path to building loving relationships are all here.
