The term wellness is objective. Practicing wellness looks different for everyone. It depends on personal dedication and preference, on schedules and levels of commitment. But everyone has the ability to integrate wellness into their lifestyle. The first step comes with defining what wellness looks like and feels like for you. It’s important to remember that wellness, like most things in our lives, is something that should be evolving. What looks and feels like wellness to you today might look different a year from now. The circumstances of our lives are constantly changing. It’s important to let things like our intentional living practices evolve with those circumstances. Which brings us to the most important aspect of integrating wellness and intentionality into your life. You have to let these practices mold to your life, not the other way around.
This is a personal journey; meaning, we don’t need to mold our lives to these practices because we think it’s what we should be doing. These practices should fit into the life you’re building, they should feel easy and effortless, slipping right into the mold of your life. The benefits of a wellness driven lifestyle are endless. But the primary mindset behind your intention to live a more wellness driven lifestyle should be fueled by this idea of growth. You’re not doing it because a TikTok told you, or because all of your friends are doing it. You’re doing this for you, and you’re doing this because you want to grow. Before taking action on the steps below, take some time to journal on the benefits when you integrate wellness practices into your life. This list will be your reminder of the steps you’re taking for growth.
5 Steps to Integrate Wellness
STEP ONE | IDENTIFY YOUR PRACTICES
One of the hardest parts of beginning something new is not knowing where to start. We see all these wellness practices promoted in social media, but have you asked yourself which ones actually feel right to you? The best place to start is by figuring out what’s aligned to you. What practices do you want to integrate and why? The why is the most important: why do you want to do this? When you’re identifying the why, try going beyond the surface. Why do you think this practice(s) will affect you so deeply? What long-term effects will it have on you, your mindset, and your lifestyle?
STEP TWO | IDENTIFY THE VALUE
You’ve already done a little bit of this work in step one, but now it’s time to dive deeper. First you should identify your personal values. This is a good rule of thumb in the intentional living space in general. Once a year, typically when the wind simply moves me to do so, I sit down and re-evaluate my personal, core life values. The overarching themes of them typically don’t change; but over the years, I’ve found that the underlying definitions of them evolve. Identify your core values. Once you’ve done so, identify how these wellness practices align with those core values. How are they promoting growth and internal reflection?
STEP THREE | PRACTICE YOUR PRACTICE
As we’ve established, the idea or concept behind wellness will change over time as your life evolves and changes. Circumstances arise and values change, which, in turn, will change your wellness practice. But the value behind practicing wellness comes from it’s long term benefits on your mind, body and soul. So the time has come to integrate the actual practice. What do you do? It’s here where most people will adopt some sort of limiting mindset. A pass/fail curriculum gets put in place and all of a sudden, these practices are law and if you go one day without, you fail. That’s why this step is called practice. We practice a practice for a reason: to improve, not perfect.
STEP FOUR | ADOPT A COMPASSIONATE MINDSET
The first reminder you need to adopt, like all things, is that practice works towards perfection. Meaning, days will inevitably come up where you don’t have the time, or something in your life has come up and the practice takes a halt. It’s here where we need to remind ourselves of the inherent mindset value of practicing wellness habits. Every day you’ve already practiced something, you’re sustaining the value of it in your life. You’re creating a stronger belief behind the success of the practice. Meaning, when the days come (which they inevitably will) where you skip the practice, the value of it should assure you that despite missing today, you’ll always have tomorrow.
STEP FIVE | LET YOUR PRACTICE EVOLVE
Just like a lot of what we do and strive to achieve, things can start with a high and then our mindset eventually returns to a base level. The status quo returns and the excitement we once felt returns to its normal levels. This happens with every single thing we do. Therefore, it’s up to us to create that same excitement once again. A time might come where we feel bored or mundane with the practices we set. Which is why at the same time I’m re-identifying my values, I’m re-evaluating my wellness habits. It’s time to create that excitement again, which means something needs to change and evolve.
Change is one of the only constants in our lives. Everything is always changing and as humans, we’re always evolving. Meaning, everything in our lives needs to change and evolve with us. Don’t fear that change. Embrace it. This is the reason I didn’t write a “10 Wellness habits that will change your life” article. Because I personally don’t know what habits will actually change your life, only you do. But these practices are completely evergreen to our evolution. The process to integrate wellness into your life will always work because it allows for change and growth.
