31 Wellness Ideas

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For National Wellness Month, celebrated each August, I’m sharing different posts highlighting what wellness really means.

Last week’s post, available HERE, shares the eight dimensions of wellness. They include: emotional, environmental, intellectual, financial, occupational, physical, social and spiritual.

Wellness encompasses the whole body plus it’s an active process of making healthy choices that support a fulfilling life. Because daily habits play an important role in wellness, I’m offering 31 wellness ideas. Include these wellness tips…one a day or multiple ideas a day…to build robust wellness in your life.

And even though August is Wellness Month, these tips can be practiced every day, of every month, year after year.

A Month of Ideas

My intention, for creating this post is to show how easy it is to incorporate wellness habits into your life. All eight wellness dimensions are included in these activities. Over time…a relative short time…daily habits build a healthy lifestyle.

Pick a starting date and try one of these ideas every day for the next 31 days.

Choose Wellness

The whole point of National Wellness Month is to encourage people to choose wellness. Show your intention of following through on your commitment to wellness by creating a simple declaration that states “I choose wellness” and then sign and date it. See my “wellfie” at the end of the post for my signed declaration.

DIY Beauty Treatment

Enjoy a DIY beauty treatment at home, using ingredients from your kitchen. Make this experience a pampering one. Try this easy DIY Natural Skin Serum or check out Pinterest for other ideas.

Go For a Walk

Walking has so many benefits. It’s a great way to increase physical wellness and also clears the mind, boosts mood and fosters creativity.

Meditate

Meditation quiets the mind and body by focusing on breath. And it not only eases stress and relaxes the body, it also balances emotions, boosts memory and increases productivity at work.

Spend Time in Nature

We know being outdoors is good for us…fresh air, vitamin D producing sunshine and peaceful nature…however some of the benefits are lesser known. Spending time in nature also sharpens focus, supports graceful aging, reduces inflammation, relieves stress, anxiety and depression and increases overall life satisfaction. Check out more reasons to get out into nature HERE.

Night Out With Friends

Have a girls’ or guys’ night out, doing something fun. If COVID is keeping you home, do a virtual dinner together, connecting through ZOOM or Facetime. Or watch a movie simultaneously and discuss. Social interaction is important to wellness, perhaps now more than ever.

Pick Up Trash

In your neighborhood, along a stretch of beach or in a local park, take time to pick up trash. Wear gloves and carry a small trash bag that can be disposed of after clean up. And check out the plant based trash bags at the end of the post.

Eat Plant Based for a Day

Rather than a meatless Monday meal, try eating vegan for a whole day. No meat, dairy products or eggs allowed. It will not only give your digestive system a break and your health a boost, it’s good for the planet too.

Have a Smoothie for Breakfast

Start your “vegan for the day” with a fruit smoothie, or pick this activity for another day. Start with fresh bananas, then add frozen fruit of choice, filtered water and chia seeds. Blend in a high speed blender until thoroughly mixed.

Write Out 31 Affirmations

Affirmations are positive statements that can help you overcome negative thinking and self sabotage. They also help to create change. Write 31 affirmations that encourage you to live a healthier life. Begin each affirmation with “I am…” and write it in the present tense, not future tense. Example: “I am creating wellness in my life.”

Write affirmations on slips of paper and drop them into a jar. Draw one out each day for the next month. Or create your own flip calendar, using spiral bound index cards, adding an affirmation on each card.

Do Something New

Trying new experiences is good for the brain. Plus they help us move beyond comfort zones, conquer fears and ramp up creativity. The something new can be as simple as using the non-dominant hand to brush your teeth or as complex as climbing a mountain for the first time.

Read

Pick out a new book, either one you purchase, a library loan or an ebook downloaded on your tablet. Commit to reading a chapter a day. Ramp up the fun by reading a book in a new to you genre.

Watch a Documentary

Are you a movie fan? Try switching to a documentary instead. Watch one on a topic you like or mix things up and pick one you’d not typically watch. Amazon Prime is a great source of documentaries, of all kinds. Start your free membership by clicking HERE.

Netflix offers a broad selection of documentaries as well. I highly recommend My Octopus Teacher. You must have a Netflix subscription to watch.

Encouraging Texts

To boost your social wellness and encourage others, send positive, affirming texts to friends and family members. Doing something kind or helpful for others brings tremendous benefits for the giver as well.

Stretch the Body

Try a series of stretches first thing in the morning. Or move through yoga poses. If you aren’t familiar with yoga, look for step by step videos on YouTube.

Wellness Date

Go on an intentional wellness date with a significant other, family member or even on your own. Some ideas: healthy dinner date, walk in the neighborhood, massage, yoga class, meditate outdoors together or alone, financial class, concert in the park, business class, volunteer for a good cause or find a quiet place to sit and talk.

Wellness Pie Chart

Create a pie chart (see this post for an example) and divide it into eight sections. Label each section with a wellness dimension. Rate your level of wellness in each area, with 1 being very low and 10 being very high. Commit to working on the areas with a rating of 7 or below.

Journal

Write in your journal about each of the eight dimensions of wellness in your life. What can you do to improve wellness in each one?

Hot Bath

Light some candles in the bathroom, play soothing music and enjoy a long soak in the tub, with or without bubbles. Or, if you prefer a shower, take a long, hot shower and wash away stress. Use sugar scrubs scented with essential oils.

Declutter

Pick a room, a closet or a drawer and declutter it. Use the Marie Kondo practice of only keeping the items that bring you joy. Clutter clogs up energy, in a home and in the body. Decluttering allows energy to flow again.

Hydrate

Drink at least eight glasses of water during the day. Most people are chronically dehydrated. Find out if you are by checking these symptoms. If you prefer, add fresh, unsweetened fruit, lemon or lime juice or veggies such as cucumbers to your water.

Donate

Rather than tossing unwanted clothes or items, donate them to a shelter. It benefits the shelter and it keeps items out of landfills. Make sure items are in good repair and undamaged.

Toad&Co provides a Clean Out Kit, in partnership with ThredUp, for clothing cleared from your closet.

Go Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Moving out of your comfort zone brings growth and fresh opportunities and can help you feel more accomplished and happy in life.

What scares you a little bit? Speaking in public? Performing a song you wrote? Standing up for yourself? Pick one thing and do it.

Promote Sleep

Create a peaceful atmosphere in your room that is conducive to sleep. A dark, cool, quiet room is best for a good night’s sleep. What needs to shift in that environment, to help you sleep better?

Deep Breaths

Practice several minutes of slow, deep breathing to reduce stress, ease tension and reset the body. Close your eyes, inhale to a count of three, hold your breath for two seconds and then exhale to a count of six.

Create a Healthy Treat

Have fun in the kitchen, creating a healthy treat. It can be as simple as a sliced apple with dates and walnuts or something like this blueberry crumble. Let your inner chef shine through.

Create a Budget

Use a spreadsheet on the computer or an app to track income and expenditures.

After tracking income and outgo, set up budget categories for set expenses. Include a plan for paying off debt and saving for emergencies. And set aside an amount for fun or for a travel fund.

Love What You Do

Write out all the things you love about your current occupation, even if it’s not your dream job. Focusing on the positives rather than the negatives helps to shift attitudes about work and also opens possibilities for change.

Dream Job

Dream though, without creating negative feelings about your current job. What is your dream job? What does it look like and how does it make you feel? Write in great detail, in your journal, about your dream job. What action steps, no matter how small, can you take now to get you to that dream?

Gratitude

Write out ten…or more…gratitudes. These can connect to the day or they can be gratitudes in general. What are you grateful for?

Writing and expressing gratitude frequently can powerfully shift your life.

Take a Wellfie

Take a wellfie…a selfie holding your “I choose wellness” declaration. Post it on social media.

Ways to Play

I believe that play is an important part of life.

So have fun with these ideas. Let them inspire wellness ideas of your own. And try these two ways of practicing wellness activities.

Schedule out the activities in your planner or monthly calendar. Write each on on a different day, in any order that pleases you. And then do the activity listed as you move through the month.

Or, write the activities on strips of paper, fold them and drop them into a jar. Randomly select one each day, for the next month, and do the activity you draw out. No backsies. This is one of my favorite games to play. I love how the perfect activity appears on the perfect day, even if I don’t at first think so.

I hope these 31 ideas help you create more health and wellness, in all areas of your life!

Wellness Helps from Amazon:

 

 

 

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