The concept of well-being has gained a lot of attention over the last few years, underpinned by busy lifestyles, increasing workplace-related stress conditions, and the desire to live a meaningful life. These considerations have been reinforced as the pandemic hit the world in 2020, killing over a million people and impacting the lives of many more.
As social distancing and strict lockdowns reshape the way we interact, work, travel, and operate in society, the notion of well-being is becoming more important than ever.
If you're curious about what influences your well-being and how to improve it, this article is for you.
What is Well-Being
The Cambridge dictionary defines well-being as "the state of feeling healthy and happy," while the Collins dictionary defines well-being as "the condition of being contented, healthy, or successful."
In reality, the answer to “what is well-being?” is more complex than a dictionary definition simply because the concepts of happiness or the feeling of contentment can be interpreted differently and prompted by different things depending on each individual.
Tips to Improve Your Well-being
Journaling
Research has shown that journaling can help reduce anxiety, manage stress or depression, and improve your emotional and self-introspection. Indeed, journaling is one of the most powerful ways to get clarity on your life as it allows you to express your feelings, organize your thoughts, work out a plan of action, or list your goals. It's also the best way to draft and implement a plan of action to achieve your dreams and goals, including setting up good habits.
Practicing Mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness involves focusing your attention and energy on the present moment. Being mindful enables you to savor the simple pleasures in life and live in the moment. It helps you enjoy the little things in life, such as the time spent with your loved ones regardless of what's happening in your life or what you worry could occur in the future. It can also positively change your outlook on life and help you change your approach to difficult situations.
Many studies have linked mindfulness to increased resilience, reduced stress, anxiety, or enhanced self-esteem and therefore improved mental well-being. Here you'll find some mindfulness books to dive deeper into the topic.
Practicing Meditation
Meditation has been used for thousands of years. And although once practiced to better understand the mystical and spiritual forces of life, it's now commonly used to help reduce anxiety and stress. Indeed, the same way practicing mindfulness can help improve your well-being, meditation has been proven to significantly reduce stress, depression, lower blood pressure, and boost your creativity. This, in turn, can improve your overall well-being. Some of the best meditation apps you can use include Headspace, Meditopia and Insight Timer.
Discovering or Rediscovering your Passions
Your passion could be a hobby or could be related to caring for the environment or your community. Doing something that you genuinely enjoy doing, whether it be arts, sports, or a community-related activity, can help you find a purpose in life, genuinely enjoy your free time, enhance your life satisfaction and make you happier. Besides, discovering something you're really good at can significantly boost your overall well-being.
Factors Contributing to Well-being
According to the Office for National Statistics, there are ten different underlying factors contributing to our well-being. These factors include (in no particular order of importance):
Health
As mentioned before, health and well-being are closely linked. Indeed, health can be defined as a state where an individual experiences complete mental, physical, and social well-being. Our mental health can, therefore, affect our physical or social well-being and vice versa.
Personal Finance
Financial difficulty, lack of savings, or unmet salary expectations can all negatively impact our well-being. Indeed, struggling financially can create extreme stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation, and depression. As a result, having a solid personal financial plan, including savings and thriving to increase your wage, can enhance your well-being.
Economy
The state of the economy of the country you live in can impact your professional and personal life and therefore affect your well-being. Indeed, the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), or the economic downturn linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, all impacted the well-being of millions, destroying jobs and creating uncertainty. Besides, when a country's economy is in an upturn, job prospects increase and can also lead to better salaries, better morale, better work-life balance, and improved well being.
What We Do
What we do influences our well-being because it defines whether or not we're fulfilling our dreams, following our values and beliefs, enjoying our life, and whether we are satisfied with the path we’ve chosen so far. To work on your actions - advise you to learn about self-reflection and self-awareness. If you are ready to take action, check out Gibbs’ reflective model and the Wheel of Life.
Where We Live
Your neighborhood and your home directly influence your well-being. The brightness of your apartment, its size and decor, whether or not you own your house, how comfortable you feel in your home are all important criteria impacting your well-being.
Hope this article provided you with some useful insights into what well-being is and what key factors contribute to your well-being. While we all have different views on what happiness, comfort and success look like, the most important contributing factors are the same for everyone with only their level of importance differing.