Pursuing well-being on purpose
a mid-year resolution to connect with my body & mind
I am taking on virtual nutrition counseling clients! If you or someone you know is struggling with their relationship with food, consider booking a free Discovery call to see what it is like working with an IFS-informed dietitian.
One way that I have been combating breezing by important moments in my life and burnout is tending to my mind in intentional ways. Two ways I did this at the start of 2024 was to incorporate weekly reflections; each Sunday, I write a 3-5 sentence blurb about what happened and what I did that week. Then, each month, I started tracking domains of my life on a wellness wheel. If you are unfamiliar, for each “spoke” of the wheel, the closer to the center is a lower rating (“bad”) and closer to the outside of the circle is a higher rating (“good”). In the fictitious example below, movement is going well, presence is so-so.
In January, I printed out twelve one-inch wellness wheels and taped them into my planner--confident that this *one step* would elevate me to nirvana and create a cascade of change that would support my well-being. I remember the electric excitement that I felt: if I can see what isn’t going well, I can do something about it!
But, doing something required time I did not always have and mental fortitude I was allocating to other domains. What was most lacking in my routine were the slow, gracious, and spacious practices done in quiet by myself. Things like watercolor painting, nature walks, connecting to my greater purpose, meditating, and journaling.
I have decided to dig into each of my wellness wheel “spokes” and write about it here on Substack. I plan to intentionally pursue each domain for 1-2 weeks and report back how things are going.
This is an opportune moment for this experiment. I have written about the complexities of pursuring behavior change, and as I readjust my well-being rhythms after moving to a new city, I want to experiment with new routines! I also had a major job shuffling; I am currently self-employed, which is new to my schedule (interested in working with me? Book a free discovery call!)! As I continue to build my nutrition counseling caseload, I have some spaciousness to explore my routines. This feels so wonderful (and also a little scary!).
The long and the short of it: I have time to explore well-being in a way that I was limited before.1
If you want to explore this in your own life, feel free to personalize the domains that are most relevant to your life! You could substitute in: nutrition, hydration, health practices, intimacy, intellectual pursuits, physical health, mental health, career, etc.
As a reminder, the domains I will be exploring are:
Presence/mindfulness
Finances
Movement
Spirituality/connection to purpose
Social
Sleep
Emotional
Work/Life balance
Each post, you can expect:
How I define the domain in my own life
Ideas I came up with to practice the domain
Musings on my experience with the practice
Things I hope to take forward
Things that I learned
I am starting this week with movement, because, well, some of the domains feel a little intimidating (!!) and my old movement routines were all linked with my previous home/neighborhood so it feels like a juicy place to dig in. A true fresh start.
What domains are tugging at your attention? Let me know in the comments!
It is important to name here: my current life has had a re-allocation of my resources. I now have more time (an important resource) but less money (another important resource). My mind can romanticize other’s experience and I want to name this is not a seamless transition!