My Well-Being Story
What is the definition of well-being? I reflect on this question and my own mental health journey as I sit writing this.
According to Dr. David Hester, Vice President of Life Guides and speaker in the Chief Well-Being Officer program that I am a part of, WELL-BEING is defined as a noun, as the experience of health, happiness and prosperity; having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning and purpose and the ability to manage stress.
After having a mental health crisis, well-being became a fundamental piece of how I live my life now and what I do as a corporate wellness coach and consultant.
It wasn’t until after I was hospitalized for a psychotic break last year that I began to understand and re-define the true meaning of well-being for myself. At first, well-being for me, was at most a concept. Well-being simply meant dedicating my extra time outside of work to my physical fitness. I was always relatively fit and being a yoga instructor myself meant that I always carved out time to move my body. However, I would often compartmentalize my life and saw well-being as separate from my life and only a small part of it.
In my pursuit to carve out time for more well-being, I simply pushed myself more and more. Aside from working my full-time job where I didn’t necessarily feel fully seen or valued, I was also trying to run a full marathon, trying to be a vegan, and doing personal work with my therapist to improve the relationship with my mother. It was all too much, I was burnt out and I didn't even realize it. I thought more was better, as if managing more with less time was a badge of honor…
In the midst of my recovery, I felt like I was being forced to reevaluate my priorities in order to truly center my life around my well-being. I had to reassess what well-being would actually look and feel like to me. I moved back in with my parents for social support, I had to stop my intense workout regimes to be kinder to my body, and had to assess what filled my cup, and actually PAUSE. This was deeply uncomfortable for me as someone that was always used to pushing myself and finding and feeling value only through just doing. A shift in perspective was critical. I started to realize and see that my well-being was the collective experience of all the components that were contributing to my life and fueling my sense of connection, purpose and growth — at the core it was BEING more than DOING.
My mental health crisis taught me that my well-being was more than just that hour of fitness, it was what I was nourishing myself with, whom I was surrounded by, whether I felt social support and belonging, whether I had real time to decompress and if what I was doing actually contributed to my sense of purpose. This experience forced me to make choices with my well-being first in mind. This was well-being re-defined for me.
As such, I left my corporate job in the pursuit of truly embodying a life of well-being and aligning with my personal mission to support and guide others, be it individuals, leaders, and teams in doing the same: truly embodying and living a life of well-being. I am now working to help organizations and leaders re-define and nurture mental health and well-being in the workplace by prioritizing the other components that enable authentic well-being for employees such as work-life harmony, community and connection, matter at work and protection from harm.
My mental health and well-being story is an example of what can happen to any individual or employee who feels overworked, stressed and disconnected from their purpose. For this reason, I believe it's our individual and collective responsibility to create environments that are actually conducive to helping employees live their well-being.
We can’t expect others to prioritize their well-being if we first don't embody it and live it through example. As such, I am now slowly and intentionally walking the path of authentic well-being and I am continuing to move through life letting experiences show me the ways I can take better care of myself and guiding others towards that same path.
So today, I encourage you to be present to your current definition of well-being, what it is you are looking to cultivate more of in your life, and truly stand for it so that others can stand for their well-being too.
