Do you ever just scroll through social media, all happy and excited, to then find yourself suddenly frustrated and annoyed by all of the stuff you see posted? Social media is truly such a wonderful thing but it can be too much sometimes. When it comes to health and wellness especially, it seems social media is flooded with bloggers, coaches, therapists, doctors, authors, etc. telling you how you can make your life better in some way and while all of this is wonderful, it’s also exhausting. It can feel like too much. Then what ends up happening is you end up not doing anything because you don’t know where to start or feel as though there is just too much to implement that it doesn’t seem realistic for your lifestyle. I get it. I am a therapist, who talks about wellness often, and even I feel overwhelmed by information overload sometimes.

The most important thing to remember is that even though there are tons of ways you can improve upon your health and wellness, it doesn’t mean you have to implement every single thing advised to reach that goal. Wellness doesn’t need to be hard. It really is quite easy to implement small changes which will yield big results when it comes to your wellness goals. 

IDENTIFY ONE AREA OF CHANGE

This is SUPER important and here’s why! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Simple as that. You may be following a wellness blogger or listening to a podcast that is talking about ways to improve upon your wellness and they may identify about 10 things you can do to change your life, BUT that doesn’t mean those 10 things makes sense for YOUR life. When we hear advice from someone we admire, we immediately think whatever they say must be right. WRONG! For example, if you want to prioritize working on mindfulness, then focus just on mindfulness. Don’t focus on fitness, food, morning routines, journaling, and self-care activities in addition to mindfulness just because a blogger said so. Just focus on mindfulness.

Could those other things be linked to mindfulness? Absolutely. Could those other things be things you wish to address at some point in the future? Sure. But if you try to tackle them all at once, you’ll likely have a hard time sticking with any of them, which could then potentially lead you to feel overwhelmed and defeated. Identify your top goal and stick with it. Also, deciding to implement wellness into your life doesn’t mean you are void of wellness already. It could mean you just want to expand upon the habits you have already formed. So, if a blogger is listing 10 things to change and you feel you have a good grasp on most of them, then awesome! Don’t feel as though you need to make a change when there may not be a change which needs to be made.

SET ATTAINABLE GOALS 

Setting an attainable goal is also going to help you achieve your overall wellness goals. For example, if you want to start working out more, start small. You may read a blog on running, feel super inspired and motivated, and then immediately decide you are going to run every single day as a way to implement more wellness into your life. Now, this may sound like a lovely goal but chances are you’ll struggle to attain this goal. Why? Because it’s not realistic for most people.

You might physically not be ready to run without risking potential injury. You may not have the appropriate attire or footwear. You may have a busy schedule where you quite literally can’t fit a run in every single day.  You might go running once, hate it, and then emotionally feel overwhelmed by the idea of having to run everyday. Or, you may think hating running means hating all fitness and give up completely. 

START SMALL! If you want to implement fitness into your life, set a small goal to research various workouts to find which one may work best for you. This may seem easy, but it’s still working towards your wellness goal of implementing fitness into your life by doing your research. Or, maybe you set a goal of just taking the stairs instead of the elevator one day or keeping track of your steps and walking more than you did the day before. Again, set small attainable goals. Then, once you reach those smaller goals, you can continue to expand from there. Setting small, attainable goals will increase the likelihood of follow through and achievement of your goals.

REMEMBER THAT WELLNESS IS SUBJECTIVE

There are of course some things which are clinically proven or have scientific evidence to support their effectiveness in regards to wellness (I.e. quitting smoking will improve your health, limiting fast food will improve the way you feel, etc.) but generally speaking wellness will look different for each person. This is so important to remember because of the dreaded comparison trap. You know, where we feel super awesome and good about ourselves and then we see someone else doing something amazing and we immediately feel as though our awesomeness doesn’t compare or isn’t good enough. None of us are the same and that is the beauty of life.

My definition of wellness is going to look different from your definition of wellness. I may identify getting 8 hours of sleep each night as wellness, whereas someone else may identify getting 5 hours of sleep as their version of wellness as they may have been averaging 3-4 hours before they made changes. I may view walking a mile a day as a form of wellness whereas someone else who never moved their body regularly may view walking a quarter of a mile a day as a form of wellness. I may view my morning routine of waking up, praying, working out, and making the bed as a form of wellness whereas someone else may view waking up on time and not hitting snooze as a form of wellness. See where I am going with this?

Yes, there is concrete “wellness advice,” but how we implement these things into our lives is going to look different for everyone and that is OK! What works for you, may not work for someone else. You may try something an expert recommended and hate it. THAT IS OK! Once we make changes which work best for us, we have achieved true wellness.

Remember, wellness doesn’t need to be hard or complicated. Any change you make towards bettering yourself, whether it be mentally, physically, socially, emotionally, or spiritually is a step towards overall wellness. Don’t let the enormity of the subject stop you from achieving your goals.  

I would LOVE to know what spoke to you today and encourage you to comment below and share with me! If you loved what you read, be sure to subscribe to my blog to be the first to get new posts!

If you are interested in learning more about my therapy services, check out my website HERE. Seeking mental health services can be daunting and if you are finding my posts resonate with you, it is likely you are feeling ready to take that next step to work on leading a happier, healthier life! I would LOVE to support you in starting this journey and welcome you to send me an email at counselingservices@smsteeves.com. 

ALSO! Check out my FREE “How Do I know If Therapy Is Right For Me” printable to start the process of deciding whether or not taking this next step is right for YOU! Just add your name + email address below and you will receive an email with a link to your FREEBIE!

Be Well,