Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Wellness Check In

I'm approaching the 5-year mark since my WLS and the time in my life when I had set some very big goals for myself. Look at my bio (over there on the right sidebar) and you'll see this description:

I am changing my life for the better! Take a peek into my journey to better overall health. I will work on my physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, relationship, vocational, and intellectual health.

Nobody is more surprised that I am that I've held these goals in the forefront of my mind for so many years. Not just thinking about the goals, but actually actively working on them in all these areas of my life. When I stop and think about how "healthy" I am in so many areas of my life, I don't have much room to complain. But there's always room to grow and be even healthier in all these areas.  

As with any wellness plan, these goals are not the type that have definitive endings. There are so many  smaller goals accomplished along the journey that add up to a life that gives me joy, happiness and well-being. Because I'm committed to my overall health, I make it a habit of revisiting my goals in each of these areas of my life and take stock in how well I'm doing and what needs to be adjusted to do better. 

I recently came across the graphic below while surfing the web. It started me thinking about how each of the areas of my health work together and how I need to give each the attention and commitment it deserves in order to achieve a balanced life. 

The "Eight Dimensions of Wellness" is actually part of a substance abuse program in Washington D.C. but this graphic (and the poster you can download in the Source link below) really speaks to the goals I've set in my own life. Many WLS patients set similar goals. Although these eight goals don't line up perfectly with the seven I've listed above (sometimes there are eight when I had "health of my character"), I still think this graphic is an excellent way to visualize my own holistic wellness.

Source: SAMHSA Wellness Program (download poster with this link)


Over the next few weeks I'm going to revisit each of my big life goals and review what I've already accomplished and what I want to tackle next. 

Stay tuned...

~Pam

4 comments:

  1. Keep up the hard work! One thing I’ve found to be extremely helpful and useful as a supplement to my current diet/exercise plan is Fullbar (www.fullbar.com). Their products (Fullbar shakes) have helped me lose weight and learn how to maintain that weight-loss.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Ryan - Ordinarily I would mark your comment as spam and remove it from my blog. However, I'm going to comment on it instead. Fullbar may be a perfectly find product for normal-gutted people, but it is DANGEROUS for anyone who has had weight loss surgery. The purpose of Fullbar is to make the product swell up in your stomach to remove excess room in a normal sized stomach and allow for less food to fit in. However, when you have a tiny gastric bypass sized pouch that's only around 6 ounces in size... adding a Fullbar product could actually cause serious medical problems. DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT if you've had weight loss surgery. It is DANGEROUS!

    Ryan, if you'd like to target your marketing to other weight loss communities, I would suggest you look for a population that would not endanger the lives of the people who eat it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You set him straight Pam. He doesn’t seem to understand and post on my WLS boards.
    Anyway just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you. You have been my hero thru my 3.5 years of WLS. I miss seeing you at support meetings when I started sliding. I can't believe I can remember I have a meeting during the day and then get busy and find it's too late.

    I sure appreciate all the research you did for us and still look back from time to time when I have OS moments and forget stuff.

    Again, Thanks for all you have done for the WLS community
    Melody (Pineview01)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melody - it's never too late to get your butt back to those support group meetings. People who regularly attend them have a greater chance for long term success. Hope to see you soon!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts

Related Posts with Thumbnails