Get Started On A Wellness Journey That Makes You Feel Good With These 4 Simple Steps
There is no right or wrong way to do wellness. Everyone’s journey will look different as it’s your own adventure!
Follow these 4 simple steps and get started on a wellness journey that makes you feel good both inside and out.
Before jumping straight into how you can get started on your wellness journey, let’s first recap what the term ‘wellness’ actually means.
‘Wellness’ is about moving towards a healthy lifestyle that has a positive impact on your physical health; both inside and out.
Popular practices include getting plenty of sleep, building healthy habits and avoiding unhealthy ones, eating a well-balanced diet, exercising and indulging in self-care.
A wellness journey is therefore quite simply about putting these practices into action and “altering your lifestyle to better support your needs.”
Wellness your way
It’s essential that when you get started with your wellness journey you are setting it up to work for you.
Because everyone’s wellness journey looks different.
Mine is about avoiding burnout, making time for myself, adopting a slower pace to life and putting my mental health and happiness first.
But yours might be about taking better care of your physical health, eating cleaner and exercising daily.
Your journey can be whatever you want it to be as there is no right or wrong way to do wellness.
It doesn’t have to be about ditching the carbs, eating clean and doing yoga twice a day.
As long as you feel healthier and happier than you did the year before then I think you’re doing it right!
5 steps to help you get started on your wellness journey
1. set your intention
Whenever you start something new, it’s important to establish your intentions first. This will also help you to determine whether you are embarking on this wellness journey for the right reasons.
To do this, figure out what needs to change in your life to make you feel happier and healthier.
Whether this is eating more fruit & veg, exercising more, getting more sleep, dedicating more time to self-care, embracing your imperfections or detoxing from social media, etc.
Do a deep dive into your needs and ask yourself:
What part(s) of my life am I currently neglecting and want to give more attention to?
What change(s) do I want to see in my life? Why and how will this make me feel better?
What changes(s) am I willing to commit to?
How much time am I willing to commit to my wellness journey a day/week/month?
What is no longer adding value to my life? What could I let go of?
Before you start this journey it’s important to know what you’re looking to improve on so you can make it relevant to you.
And make sure it’s coming from the heart!
Don’t let anyone else influence your goal. You get to decide, no one else.
2. break it down into more manageable goals
Once you have set your intention(s) for your wellness journey, it’s time to break it down into more manageable chunks to help decrease the overwhelm.
This will also make it easier for you to stay motivated on your journey.
And always start small with your goals.
Don’t go all-in on the first day with a hardcore 2-hour intense gym session or only eating rainbow coloured foods.
Ease in slowly.
If your intention is to move your body every day, start with a 20-min walk around the block every other day. Carve out your 20-mins walk in your schedule when you know you’ll be able to commit to it.
Once you’ve formed the habit and you feel more confident, increase the duration or number of times you walk a week.
Eventually, you will be moving your body daily instinctively.
You can now use this as the foundation of upping the ante on your intention.
Maybe this is adding in a yoga session or gym workout after your walk.
Whatever it is you’ve already adopted a healthier lifestyle.
3. set clear boundaries
Make sure you are embarking on a wellness journey your way, by setting clear boundaries.
Boundaries are the limits and rules you put in place to separate your personal space, emotions and responsibilities from others.
So this might look like limiting the amount of toxic information you consume so you don’t get sucked into the dark side of the wellness industry.
Or not comparing your journey to anyone else’s or get caught up in unhealthy dietary trends.
Setting boundaries on your wellness journey can even look like allowing yourself to not always be striving for more but to just be for a while.
You will also find that by setting boundaries, you are more likely to stick to your wellness plan as you have more confidence in yourself.
4. be flexible with your journey and enjoy the process!
Your wellness journey is not going to be a quick fix solution. It is a lifelong process that you need to work on every day.
So make sure you are enjoying it.
If your wellness journey doesn’t make you feel happy (or healthy) then tear it up and start over.
It shouldn’t feel like a chore.
The key is to make it work for you. You get to choose your goals, you get to choose what approach you take, you get to choose what methods and practices you use.
So customise it until it makes you feel good.
And be aware that your needs may change as you do so you might need to adjust your journey accordingly.
Oh, and remember to never get so caught up in your journey that you forget to have fun and actually live your life!
“Life, we know, is not about the destination, but about the journey instead. We get so caught up in focusing on the final goal that life just passes us by in the process. In many ways well-being is the same. Well-being is not suddenly achieved once we attain these goals, it is with us all the way.”
Dr. Marcus Ranney | Thrive Global
Final thoughts
I hope you find these tips on how to get started on a wellness journey that makes you feel good useful.
I encourage you to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it at any time.
And just like with all my other tips, I recommend you test them out first before sticking to them as what works for me might not necessarily work for you.
Use them as a guide until you are happy with the outcome.
And never beat yourself up if things don’t go according to plan.
Until next week,
♡ Thalia xx
