What our focus on being well in 2023 looks like

Wellbeing is a bit of a funny term. It seems to have shifted in recent years from a word traditionally used to describe people who were struggling with their health – toward something more positive; a word that is associated with people deliberately paying attention to how well they actually are.

Wellbeing

I think the changing interpretation of the word wellbeing is reflective of a broader cultural shift, in which we are bringing wellbeing and wellness out of the stigmatised dark, and into the light.

Having worked previously in mental health, I’m celebrating this shift as an important step toward empowering people to boldly pursue living their best lives by removing the outdated idea that it’s somehow vain or selfish to focus inward.

A little on my own journey

My own personal journey with wellbeing (especially in my younger years) involved A LOT of anxiety. My impression of the world growing up was that what you did mattered the most. Stopping to find out who you are and what brings real meaning to your life, would be wasteful.

Can you believe that? I honestly believed getting to know myself was a waste of time.

The shift for me from this (painful) mentality began when I was diagnosed in my with epilepsy in my mid-twenties. The ongoing seizures and their effects changed my life and I was no longer the same person I had seen myself as. My seizures were getting progressively worse and my life literally depended on me facing my reality – figuring out who I was with epilepsy and what would support me to be well again.

So began my journey of getting to know myself. I’ve worked HARD to move forward and let go of the shame and selfishness that I had internalised around spending time on me.

A smidge of our journey

My own wellbeing journey has not mirrored Rog’s. Like most things in life, we have to come to change on our own terms. But, after almost 15 years, we are today much closer together in the way we view health and joyfully share a deep value for our own and each other’s wellbeing.

As 2023 kicked off, we made it a priority to discuss what we would be doing to focus on our wellbeing this year. We discussed what was important to each of us and what our goals were for the year – and critically, how we could support each other and share the journey together.

Our 2023 goals

I have three big goals for my wellbeing this year:

• Reduce anxiety
• Reduce stress
• Reduce inflammation

What I want, in short, is to feel more well in myself – to have more energy, live with a greater feeling of inner calm, and have a body that moves with ease and with minimal pain.

Rog’s goals are a little simpler (symbolic of who we are as humans perhaps?!) – he wants to lose a specific amount of weight and decrease stress. His outcomes are equally simple – he wants to perform better as a husband, father and business partner, as in, get the best out himself (perform = his word, not mine! I already think he’s incredible).

3 activities we are trying to improve our wellbeing

I use the word “trying” deliberately as this year is about experimenting for us!

We’ve taken plenty of the traditional approaches to health in the past – get fit, eat well etc. – but we are both researching more and more about how we can functionally make a shift.

That is, undertake activities that will truly optimise the way our bodies and minds operate by working with our systems. Boiled down, we are trying to figure out what makes us feel and function really well – so we can do more of that.

Here’s what we’re trying:

• Infrared saunas – commonly referred to as “dry saunas” – provide heat exposure. Heat exposure is suggested to provide a range of varying benefits including endorphin release, reduced cortisol levels, reduced pain, increased blood flow, and reduced muscle tension.

  We are doing these saunas together so not only are we experiencing some of the benefits already, we’re bonding through the sweat sesh!

• Anti-Inflammatory diet – this one we’ve been working on for a few years, refining our efforts and understanding of what it means and how we can practice it more fully. It is critical for me as I am trying to tackle my arthritis with minimal clinical interventions.

  Following an anti-inflammatory diet consists of both eating foods that lower inflammation, as well as avoiding foods known to cause inflammation. In a crude nutshell, you want to eat foods that follow mostly along the lines of the Mediterranean diet (think fish, olive oil and vegetables) and you want to avoid foods that make you feel a bit meh after eating them (think high carbohydrate, highly processed and high trans fats).

• Board games at night – this one might seem a little odd but trust me, it is a mental health gem! Our daughter has a pretty long bedtime routine that involves some time by herself. Last year we found ourselves – tired from the day – separating during this time and scrolling phones, working on laptops or watching Netflix. It didn’t do much for our mood.

  So for Christmas, Rog gave me three board games (especially made for two players) so that we could reconnect at night and do something that left us feeling more relaxed and positive before bed. Needless to say, they’ve been a game-changer for our nights!

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts….

We should note, consistent with a functional approach, we’re of the belief that it’s the sum of all the things we’re doing that will impact our whole health in a significant way. We’re not seeking a “silver bullet” to better health. Instead, we’re looking for small gains in different areas that, when combined, will deliver better total wellbeing.