A Holistic Approach to Your Well-Being

What do we mean when we talk about holistic health?

In a nutshell, it means that everything has an effect on everything else!

Your physical, mental, emotional and environmental well-being are all so intertwined that changes in any of them can impact one or more of the others in a significant way.

Picture anything with four wheels; your car, a skateboard, the quad bike on the family farm….

If one rear wheel starts spinning, there might not be much forward progress but there’s still a little bit of momentum that helps to get the other rear wheel turning. Then the front wheels can join in, and progress becomes smooth. All four wheels are sharing the work and you simply choose the direction in which to go.

The physical, mental, emotional and environmental components of well-being are like those four wheels. Sometimes all you need is for just one of them to start spinning. That little bit of momentum can be enough to get all four wheels moving in sync with one another, and you’re on your way.

For example, a deliberate change in your mindset might include increasing physical activity, or taking up a new sport or hobby.

This could mean meeting new people and making new friends, signifying positive changes to your social environment and emotional health.

Increased physical activity and / or an active support network often means people end up following better eating habits as well, because they want to reinforce the positive changes they’re making in other aspects of their lives.

This might show up in your preparation of the shopping list before heading to the supermarket, meaning you’re restructuring your home environment to support your goals.

This also extends to the Melius cornerstones of move, connect, regulate and recharge. These are not stand-alone entities but, rather, complementary components with no defined boundaries.

For example, recharging might involve movement and connection. Regulation activities might be based on a foundation of recharging. To be able to move optimally, we need to be appropriately recharged and regulated, but we’re also more likely to seek movement opportunities if there is the chance of a social connection.

It’s not that the lines are blurred. The lines don’t exist!

Thanks for reading!