I’m going to discuss the 6 areas in our lives that contribute to overall wellness and satisfaction. I was first exposed to this concept by my previous employer in an effort to help employees achieve better work-life balance but wasn’t given a thorough approach to achieving wellness in each area. Through time spent researching and by trial and error, I have found a way to achieve and excel in each of these pillars within my life. I’m often asked, “How I have a glow to life?” or “How I became so put together?” and in this article I will discuss my answer.
- To list simply, the six pillars of well-being are:
- Physical
- Emotional
- Professional
- Financial
- Social
- Spiritual
Through these pillars I have achieved better work life balance, life satisfaction, and overall better well-being. I’m going to break down the 6 pillars from my perspective and offer some insight as both a nurse and a person who once struggled with these areas. While life is a continuing journey, I believe that each person can achieve better wellness with the right approach.
This is an expansion of the 6 wellness concepts from my personal perspective. All tips, information, resources, and material given do not serve as professional advice, but for educational purposes only.
What are the 6 pillars of wellbeing?
(What are the main areas within our lives that contribute to overall wellness?) AND (How I’ve applied the 6 pillars of wellbeing to my life?)
1. Physical
Starting first with your physical well-being. This involves your physical activity and nutrition. What we do with our bodies and what we put into our bodies? This is the area we probably know the most about as nurses, but we could all use refreshers and helpful tips.
Focusing Physically
I started by researching all about exercise, how much, how often, and what kind? All the research and recommendations point to a common consensus that we need to move daily. Personally, I try to get active every day and try to find ways to make exercising fun instead of a dread. Most nurses have active 12-hour shifts, which is half the battle because our typical workday doesn’t involve sitting most of the time. I’ve heard that a sedentary lifestyle is comparable to smoking (sitting is the new smoking) when it comes to the overall effects on your long-term health.
But it’s also good to incorporate an exercise regime into your week. I typically try to work out for at least 30 minutes a day for 3 days a week.
(3 days of active work) + (3 days of exercise) + 1 day off = my week
My exercise consists of some type of cardio, strength training, and stretching. I once went through a period where I wasn’t active and dreaded working out so to jump start this, I looked for ways to may exercising fun. I focused on group glasses (dance, HIIT classes, or cycling) through my gym membership. I also found active hobbies like joining a run club and playing basketball.
Personally, I found it hard to exercise before work and felt too drained often to exercise afterwards, so I primarily focused on my off days. For me, I felt the benefits of exercising in my mood, energy levels, and quality of sleep.
I won’t harp on physical activity too much, but if you can, strive to get active daily.
Focusing on Nutrition
Food! We all love food, but to feel our best we must take in the best quality food. This requires a conscious effort in America where we glorify fast, greasy, sugary, and often poorly processed foods.
My personal rule of thumb is to consume foods closest to their natural state. This means eating less processed foods and more organic, whole, and natural foods.
- For fruits and vegetables, I buy organic.
- For meats (I severely limit red meats), I buy organic grass fed.
- For fish, I buy wild caught.
- For eggs, I buy organic pasture raised.
Many dieticians recommend following a Mediterranean diet to improve health and lower the risk of certain health diseases. This diet includes plant-based foods such as fruits and vegetables, along with healthy fats.
Food Portion Control
To achieve portion control, I try to eat until I’m comfortable, instead of full. Often, this means only eating half of a meal at a restaurant or getting a “kids” meal at fast food restaurants. When I cook at home, I try to prepare a plate using a saucer or smaller plate. Lastly, I think meal prepping is a great way to track what and how much you’re consuming.
Food labels
I also look at the ingredients and my main rule of thumb is to limit added sugar to a single digit or less (Ideally no added sugar). This means less than 9 grams.
- 4 grams = about 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 9 grams = about 2 teaspoons
I once heard an endocrinologist state that when we crave something sweet, try to drink water first! Our bodies will send sweet craving signals when we’re dehydrated to get us to consume food that will be followed by drinking some kind of liquid.
Also, with food labels, the shorter the list of ingredients and the more ingredients that I can recognize, the better. This means being able to pronounce the ingredients as well as recognize them. A good sign of a healthy ingredient list is whether I can purchase the individual ingredients in a grocery store (instead of something processed in a lab).
Other Thoughts on Nutrition:
There are many diets to try, but instead of a diet I try to change my lifestyle. This way I can still enjoy the foods I love, but in a conscious way. So, whatever you decide, remember to consume things in moderation, be informed, and find ways to treat yourself (i.e. balance).
2. Emotional
Emotional well-being is crucial in this society. We need to take care of ourselves emotionally as nurses. With the level of stress that we experience at work, we have to protect our mental and emotional well-being.
To do this, we must be honest with ourselves about where we are emotionally? Are you feeling anxious? Hopeless? Depressed? Stressed?
To offer some solutions:
- Seek counseling. (There are many resources available, and you may have some through your employer)
- Try journaling (This is a great way to organize your thoughts and examine yourself and your experiences.)
- Take social media breaks (Sometimes you need to unplug and ground/re-align yourself without distractions)
Remember that it’s okay to not be okay. Self-awareness is the first step of change and also a way to get the help you need.
3. Professional
Our career journey can influence our wellbeing, hence the reason why one of the pillars of wellness is our profession. It’s no secret that nursing is stressful, especially depending on the setting and specialty that you work in. In my life, if I didn’t find the work environment good for my mental health or if it jeopardized my license, then I would make efforts to leave that job.
I’ve recently transitioned to a less stressful job working as a GI/Pain Management nurse (which I’ve discussed in a previous article) and I have experienced a profoundly positive change to my overall well-being. As I have found joy in my work, I pray that you also experience that for yourself.
I’ve spoken on how I transitioned into my current role as a GI/Pain Management nurse and if you’re interested in tips for success during your job hunting as a nurse then click to read more!
Other ways that I have achieved wellness professionally were:
- Clearly defining my goals and desires
- For this I wrote down the things that I wanted in my next job.
- Salary expectations
- Described the ideal day and life as a nurse
- Ideal work schedule
- I also wrote down my long-term goals
- I dreamed big! This included post-graduate education, side hustles, and future business ideas!
- For this I wrote down the things that I wanted in my next job.
- Sought Knowledge
- Looked for jobs that aligned with my goals
- Researched/Inquired master’s Programs and post-graduate certificates
- Read more books and ingested more content
- Search and investigate
- Took Action!
- Applied to the jobs
- Became a volunteer medical coordinator
- Started a blog and nursing website
- Created or started what I desired
If you’re interested in continuing your education, consider:
- Utilizing educational platforms like Coursera, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning (sometimes your local library may offer FREE memberships to these platforms)
- Post graduate certificates. Pared with your bachelor’s degree, these can boost your resume and increase your marketability for a fraction of the cost.
- Go back for your Master’s! If you chose this option, look into tuition reimbursement offered through your employer or look for graduate scholarships!
Work takes up a large portion of our lives and has a great impact on our overall wellbeing. So, don’t be afraid to make a transition or pivot. One of your greatest investments is in yourself, dream big!
4. Financial
As nurses we’ve been told that we are in a “recession proof” profession and while I believe that there is truth to this statement, I also believe in financial education and stewardship. Basically, how do we manage and steward the money we receive so that we can achieve financial wellness?
In the face of economic uncertainty and a pending recession, financial literacy is IMPORTANT! We should view money as a tool to help us achieve the life we want. With proper management, you can switch jobs, withstand the job market, take risks, and overall have financial security.
While I don’t claim to be a financial expert nor does any of the information that I give serve as financial advice, I will speak to the resources that have helped me achieve financial wellness.
A little bit of background on myself, I am 26 years old with almost 6 figures in net worth between savings, investments, and assets. I’m on a journey to financial wellness and independence but I have humbly achieved some success by educating myself, understanding money, and living below my means (living on less than I make).
Some of the resources that I used for financial education included:
- Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps and Podcast
- Ramsey’s solutions helped me to tackle debt and have shaped some of my views on debt in general. So, if you struggle with debt, especially high interest debt, then Dave Ramsey is a great place to start! Once I understood debt and developed some of the basics/foundations of financial stewardship, then I graduated towards the next phase.
- The Money Guy’s financial order of operations and podcast
- After understanding the basics of debt and budgeting, I graduated to “The Money Guy’s” content. These two certified financial experts have helped me understand money as a tool as I began my investment journey. I’ve learned the differences in debt and have used their “financial order of operations” to help me determine what to do with my next dollar. Whether to save, pay off debt, or invest! Their guide has been extremely helpful in catapulting me to the next level in my financial journey!
Lastly, coupled with hearing financial content through podcast and YouTube, I also read books on financial literacy.
The top two books that I’ve read on money were:
One rule that I live by is automate! Make the good habits easy and the bad habits hard. This means first establishing a budget or assessment of my finances.
- How much do I make?
- What are my expenses?
- How much can I save?
- How much can I invest?
After that, I can automate my savings, investments, and bills based on my predetermined assessment of my finances. Because I’ve already taken the time to establish the plan, I know where each dollar that I make will go. When it comes to managing my money, I have found that having multiple bank accounts with more than 1 bank helps to break up my money and make budgeting easy.
Here’s my break down:
- Bank 1: A Checking and Savings account for bills and to house a small emergency fund (1-3 months of expenses saved)
- Bank 2: Checking and Savings for myself (This includes my “FUN” money, money to give to others, and tithe money)
- Bank 3: High Yield Savings account for my long-term emergency fund (12-24 months savings) because I get more interest on my money saved here.
Compared to the popular brick and mortar banking companies, I prefer banking with credit unions. They have certain perks and better customer experience.
Lastly, I approach investing in a simple, easy, and long-term strategy by investing in low-cost index funds that help me to “sit it and forget it” while creating diversity. For context, I invest in index funds like a Total World Index Fund or an S&P500 fund.
For more information and deeper understanding refer to the above-listed resources.
5. Social
For social wellness, this extends beyond romantic relationships to include all relationships as we navigate the world amongst people. I firmly believe that we as human beings were not designed to be alone and isolated. To achieve social wellness, I have striven to find community. Personally, I am very active at my local church. I attend weekly and volunteer regularly. This has impacted my life in huge ways and I recommend finding your community.
Ways that I have found community include:
- Church
- Active clubs (for example a run club or basketball league). Finding active community helps to fill our social needs while also improving our physical health
- Clubs revolved around hobbies
- A great place to find groups like these are Facebook groups
- Facebook group link to Real Nurse Digest
- Networking events (use Eventbrite to find all kinds of activities, seminars, and events)
We are all better together, so strive to be among like-minded people and find your community!
6. Spiritual
Last but not least, (because I went in no particular order), is spiritual wellbeing. The wellness of one’s spirit.
This includes spirituality, such as church attendance, meditation and prayer. I personally follow Jesus Christ. For this, I attend church weekly, pray, read my Bible, and journal. Others may meditate. These are practices that have been helpful to achieve my spiritual wellness.
Conclusion
These are the 6 pillars of wellbeing and how I have achieved and improved my overall wellness in each area. The journey to wellness is continual as the changes of life require adjustments and adaptations. Hopefully you can find encouragement from my journey, and I hope everyone achieves better health and wellness.
Where are you on your wellness journey? Comment below and let us know!
Your Wellness Assessment
Join my Facebook group of nurses and healthcare professionals to find your community.
Disclaimer: All material and information covered is for educational purposes ONLY. This does not serve as professional advice. Please seek professional guidance and utilize resources.
Great blog!
Loved the financial piece.