School of Health Sciences and Wellness Health and Human Performance Lab

The career dimension recognizes personal satisfaction and enrichment in life through work. It is the ability to get personal fulfillment from jobs or chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in life. Occupational development is related to attitudes about work. The desire to contribute to a career to make a positive impact on the organizations in which one works and on society as a whole leads to career wellness. It is essential to contribute the unique gifts, skills, and talents to work that are both personally meaningful and rewarding in order to gain purpose, happiness, and enrichment in life. Achieving optimal career wellness allows one to maintain a positive attitude and experience satisfaction and pleasure in employment.

Tips and suggestions for optimal occupational wellness include:

1. Explore a variety of career options.

2. Create a vision for your future.

3. Choose a career that suits your personality, interests, and talents.

4. Be open to change and learn new skills.

The emotional dimension recognizes awareness and acceptance and healthy expression of one’s feelings such as happiness, hope, love, joy, sadness, anger, fear, and/or stress. Emotional wellness encompasses optimism, self-esteem, and self-acceptance. It includes the capacity to manage feelings and related behaviors including the realistic assessment of limitations, development of autonomy, and ability to cope effectively with stress. Emotional wellness also includes intimacy, independence, and interdependence. Awareness of and accepting a wide range of feelings in oneself and others is essential to wellness. It is important to take on challenges, take risks, and recognize conflict as being potentially healthy. Managing life in personally rewarding ways, and taking responsibility for one’s actions, will help to see life as an exciting, hopeful adventure. It is better to be aware of and accept these feelings than to deny them, and it is better to be optimistic in an approach to life than pessimistic.

Tips for optimal emotional wellness:

1. Tune in to your thoughts and feelings.

2. Cultivate an optimistic attitude.

3. Seek and provide support.

4. Learn time management skills.

5. Practice stress management techniques. 

6. Discover your specific stress relievers.

7. Generalized anxiety resources

8. Accept and forgive yourself.

The environmental dimension is the extent to which one cares for the earth by protecting its resources. It is the ability to recognize personal responsibility for the quality of the air, water, and land. The ability to make a positive impact on the quality of homes, communities, and the planet while understanding the negative effect of personal choices contributes to environmental wellness. Environmental wellness is recognizing the unstable state of the earth and the effects of daily habits on the physical environment. It consists of maintaining a way of life that maximizes harmony with the earth and minimizes harm to the environment.

Tips and suggestions for optimal environmental wellness:

1. Stop junk mail.

2. Conserve water and other resources.

3. Minimize chemical use.

4. Renew a relationship with the earth.

5. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: reduce the amount of pollution we generate; reuse containers, bags, and batteries; recycle paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic.

The intellectual dimension encourages creative, stimulating mental activities. A good person expands his or her knowledge and skills while discovering the potential for sharing one’s gifts with others. The mind should be continually exercised just like the body. To become intellectually well, it is important to explore issues related to problem-solving, critical thinking, and adaptation to change. Intellectual wellness involves spending more time pursuing personal interests and reading books, magazines, and newspapers while staying aware of current events and issues. It is the ability to open one’s mind to new concepts and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interaction, and community enhancement, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning.

Tips and suggestions for optimal intellectual wellness:

1. Take a course or workshop.

2. Learn or perfect a foreign language.

3. Seek out people who challenge you intellectually.

4. Read.

5. Attend museums, exhibits and theaters.

6. Learn to appreciate art.

The physical dimension recognizes the need for regular physical activity. Physical development promotes learning about diet and nutrition while discouraging the use of tobacco, drugs, and excessive alcohol consumption. It is better to consume foods and beverages that enhance good health rather than those which impair it. Physical wellness is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows one to get through daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. Optimal physical wellness is met through a combination of good exercise and eating habits. Improving physical wellness consists of building physical strength, flexibility, and endurance while taking safety precautions including medical self-care and appropriate use of a medical system as well as protecting oneself from injuries and harm. The physical dimension of wellness involves personal responsibility, disease prevention, and care for minor illnesses, and also knowing when professional medical attention is needed. Being physically fit and feeling physically well often leads to the psychological benefits of enhanced self-esteem, self-control, determination, and a sense of direction.

Tips and suggestions for optimal physical wellness:

1. Exercise daily.

2. Get adequate sleep. 

3. Prevent injuries by using seat belts, wearing helmets, and other protective equipment. 

4. Learn to recognize early signs of illness and prevent diseases. 

5. Practice safe sex, if sexually active. 

6. Eat a variety of healthy foods and control meal portions.

7. Use alcohol in moderation if at all.

8. Quit smoking or continue to refrain from smoking and protect from second-hand smoke. 

9. Strive to reach and maintain a healthy weight.

Social wellness is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in the world. The ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends, and co-workers contributes to social wellness. Friends can serve as a source of encouragement and reinforcement for practicing healthy habits. The social dimension encourages one to become aware of his or her importance in society. It is vital to stay connected to people, form new relationships and participate in various social activities. Social wellness encourages one to take an active part in improving the world by encouraging healthier living and initiating better communication with others. Social wellness encourages one to discover the power to make willful choices to enhance personal relationships and important friendships, and build a better living space and community. Social wellness also includes showing respect for others, oneself, and other cultures.

Tips and suggestions for optimal social wellness:

1. Cultivate healthy relationships.

2. Resources for social anxiety

3. Strengthen current friendships, contact an old friend, or discover new friendships.

4. Get involved.

The spiritual dimension recognizes one’s search for meaning and purpose in human existence. It includes the development of a deep appreciation for the depth and expanse of life and natural forces that exist in the universe. Spiritual wellness is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. It encompasses a high level of faith, hope, and commitment to our individual beliefs that provide a sense of meaning and purpose in human existence. It is better to ponder the meaning of life for ourselves and to be tolerant of the beliefs of others than to close our minds and become intolerant. Becoming spiritually well means striving for consistency with our values and beliefs.

Tips and suggestions for optimal spiritual wellness:

1. Explore your spiritual core.

2. Spend time alone/meditate regularly.

3. Be inquisitive and curious.

4. Be fully present in everything you do.

5. Listen with your heart and live by your principles.

6. Allow yourself and those around you the freedom to be who they are.

7. See opportunities for growth in the challenges life brings you.

8. Volunteer!