A Glossary of Trending “Wellness” Terms and What They All Mean
Do you ever get confused with what the difference between wellness and well-being is?
TRUST ME, YOU’RE NOT ALONE. I’m a blogger who primarily writes about these topics and I still get them mixed up.
So to make things easier for you and I, I’ve put together this glossary of trending wellness terms and their definitions.
You’re welcome xx
Every so often I like to reflect on the direction of my content. I’m forever growing as a person and so what I like to write about expands quite often.
While updating my content categories this time around I got myself into a bit of a fluster with whether I use the correct word to describe the topic I write about.
Is it a wellness journey or a well-being journey?
Do I say self-discovery or personal growth?
What is the difference between self-care and self-love?
I know, I’m a self-care blogger but yet, I still get so confused with the meaning of some of these words and probably make a lot of mistakes.
But it happens.
And I’m not going to beat myself up about it.
But after doing some extensive research I came up with the idea of putting together a blog post with some of the biggest wellness terms and their definitions.
To make things a little bit easier for you in case you also get confused.
So here is my glossary of health and wellness terms and their definitions. Feel free to bookmark this page so you can keep referring back to it when you need to.
Trending “Wellness” Terms and Their Definitions
Wellness
The word “wellness” seems to be everywhere lately. And it’s a trend that I hope sticks around.
But what does wellness actually mean?
In the most basic sense, wellness means being free of illness.
But it’s seen as so much more than that.
Wellness is about moving towards a healthy lifestyle that has a positive impact on your physical health; both inside and out.
Practices including:
- Getting plenty of sleep
- Building healthy habits and avoiding unhealthy ones
- Eating a well-balanced diet
- Exercising
- Indulging in self-care
… all work together to help improve the overall quality of your life to help you feel happier, healthier and more fulfilled.
Well-being
Well-being isn’t just about your physical health, but how you feel mentally, physically, emotionally and socially.
It’s the combination of your mind and body as a whole, and how you feel about yourself.
Practices including:
- Positive self-talk
- Self-love
- Taking time for yourself
- Personal growth
- Forming healthy relationships with friends, family and social media
- Learning to manage and overcome negative thoughts
- Protecting your energy
- Setting boundaries
- Wellness exercises
… all work together to help boost both your gut health and your mental health.
To me, my well-being determines my overall happiness and I am on a constant journey to improve how I feel about myself and my life.
It’s important to note that everyone’s wellness or well-being journey will look different, ut the most common areas to work on are emotional, financial, social, spiritual, occupational, physical, intellectual and environmental.
Self-care
Self-care is any activity you do to help take better care of your well-being. It can be anything from journaling, practising gratitude or meditating to pampering, socialising and watching Netflix.
It’s a simple concept but one that often gets ignored.
Self-care is essential. Not only to your well-being but for your productivity as well.
The more you rest and take care of yourself, the more nourished you feel, so you can keep showing up as the healthiest version of yourself.
Self-care also allows you to maintain a healthy relationship with yourself, and take care of your mental health and well-being.
Depending on your needs, self-care can be split up into different areas:
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Social
- Spiritual
- Emotional
It’s also important to remember, self-care looks different to everyone. It’s about what works for you and what makes you feel good.
For me, self-care is indulging in physical activities that make me happy. Like having a slow morning, travelling, scrapbooking, reading or doing a puzzle.
These activities allow me to switch off and feel completely at ease.
Self-care doesn’t have to feel like a chore or be overly expensive.
Have fun with your routine by trying out fresh and exciting self-care ideas throughout the year.
Self-love
Self-love is the love you have for yourself no matter what.
It’s loving yourself unconditionally despite your flaws, imperfections or failures.
So it’s important to practice self-love and to value your own well-being and happiness above everything else.
“Loving and accepting ourselves are the ultimate acts of courage. In a society that says, “put yourself last,” self-love and self-acceptance are almost revolutionary”
Brené Brown | The Gifts of Imperfection
Grace
I’ve been hearing “give yourself grace” a lot lately on social media within the health and wellness community.
The word ‘grace’ has many different definitions from the way one holds themselves to being a religious or spiritual term.
But digging deeper I’ve learnt that ‘grace’ simple means kindness.
By giving yourself grace you are showing yourself the kindness and gentleness you need to move through life.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is paying attention to everything you do.
It’s being aware and present in the moment.
Mindfulness can look like meditating, doing breathwork, getting outside, practising gratitude or living a slow-paced life.
Mindfulness can also be focusing on just one thing at a time, eating slowly, touching the ground with bare feet or noticing things that you don’t usually have time for.
Practising mindfulness can help relax the mind, improve focus, reduce stress and increase happiness.
Intentional living
When you live an intentional life you are making decisions based on your core values, beliefs and goals.
You take action knowing it feels right to you and not because someone else has told you to do it or for the sake of it.
All your actions and choices have a purpose.
Living intentionally doesn’t mean that you need to have your life figured out but more about knowing and remembering your why.
Self-discovery
Self-discovery is another new term I’ve come across recently but have absolutely fallen in love with.
The path of self-discovery can be ongoing. It’s figuring out who you really are, what you want to achieve and what you truly want from life.
Self-discovery might sound like an overwhelming concept but it’s essentially about “examining your life, figuring out what’s missing and taking steps toward fulfilment.”
Personal growth
Whereas self-discovery is about finding and embracing your true, authentic self, personal growth is the process you go through to develop and improve your skills, knowledge, goals and outlook on life.
Whenever you look to better yourself or certain areas of your life, you are supporting your personal growth.
It’s so important to continue to grow as a person so you can open your eyes up to more and gain different perspectives on life.
Personal growth can look different to everyone. For me, it’s reading self-help books, travelling and learning more about my needs.
Final thoughts
I hope this blog post has cleared a few things up for you and you feel a bit clearer now with these wellness terms and their definitions.
If there are any other health and wellness terms you are confused about and aren’t mentioned in this post please write them below so I can clarify the them for you.
I will also continue to update this page with more words I come across throughout my well-being journey.
Until next week,
♡ Thalia xx
