Caring for your wellness is a lifelong practice that encompasses all aspects of your life. At the IAWP, we take a unique approach to wellness. We call it Wellness 360, which takes into consideration all the things in your life that need attention for you to create more wellness. That includes your nutrition and exercise, as well as your relationships, careers, quality of sleep, and so much more.
The reason we think about all these things instead of just the traditional focus on nutrition and exercise is that we know that all parts of our lives impact the other parts. When you’re trying to balance your eating, you’ll also need to think about how to reduce your stress levels. When you’re trying to improve your sleep, you’ll also need to take a look at the foods and drinks you’re consuming throughout the day and evening.
All things impact each other and we believe that the only way to truly get and stay healthy is to work on all of the elements in the Wellness 360 wheel.
In this article, we’re going to focus on the element of Careers. So let’s dive in and talk about what it is, why it’s important, and how you can work to balance this crucial part of your life.
Importance of Careers Element
Your health can be drastically affected by what you do every day. Some statistics say that we spend more than 90,000 hours of our lives working. Our careers take up an enormous amount of the hours of our lives, which means what you do matters a lot.
Learning how to balance our careers with the rest of our lives is important for overall wellness, too. It’s crucial to know how to set boundaries at work and in our businesses so we always take good care of ourselves. A balanced career approach will allow us all to lead fulfilling professional and personal lives.
Understanding the Careers Element
The element of Careers in the Wellness 360 wheel considers the many aspects that careers have on our lives. At a basic level, the Careers element is all about what we do for work every day so we can pay our bills and take care of our families. The reason we take this element so seriously is that it has such a huge impact on our health.
You can consider various things about your career path when thinking about it from a wellness perspective. Ask yourself questions such as:
- Do you enjoy the work that you do?
- If you don’t, do you find purpose in other areas of your life?
- Which aspects of your career fulfill you?
- And which parts challenge you?
Don’t be afraid to dig into why you do what you do. If it’s a passion-driven career, how do you create boundaries for rest, grounding, and being balanced in other areas of your life? If your job is more of a functional part of your life, how do you find passion and fulfillment in other areas of your life? In both types of work, it’s important to set boundaries so that self-care and nurturing relationships gets the attention it deserves.
Careers and Balance
This is a big part of Wellness 360. We think about how to create a work-life balance in the best ways that we can. No matter whether you love your career or you hate it, it’s important to find wellness and fulfillment in your life. Since careers often take up so much of our time and energy, they can become all-encompassing if we’re not careful. Spend some time thinking about how to create that balance in your life.
Just remember that your career is about work and effort, but it doesn’t have to only be about that. You can figure out how to bring in the purpose and passion in ways that work for your lifestyle and needs. It’s always about working toward that balance that brings well-being.
IAWP Student Feature
IAWP Certified Wellness Coach Aimee Schrank was a busy mom and school teacher. She wanted to follow her passion in life for wellness and decided to take the leap to a new career that would bring her happiness and support her family. As the founder of Redesigning Motherhood, Aimee now helps working mothers balance career with family life. To balance your career Aimee recommends this tip: “Be sure to factor in a mental health day once a quarter. Bask in stillness, pamper your soul with a good book, a hot bath or a cup of tea. Do this when your kids are at school!”
Balancing the Careers Element
The Careers element can be a tricky one to balance, but it is also an element with a high level of rewards. When this element is out of balance it can throw off all the other elements in the Wellness 360 wheel in drastic ways.
If your work life is stressful and feels negative, it can be hard to thrive in relationships, eat healthfully, and sleep well. The impact of your career on your life is strong. This is one element you don’t want to skip when it comes to balancing.
Here are a few ways to get started in balancing your Careers element.
1. Evaluate your current career.
Take some time to really sit with your current job and the career path you’re following. This might be a good one for a mindfulness session, followed by a journaling session. Contemplate how your current relationship with your work feels.
- Do you enjoy what you do for work?
- Is there anything about it you wish you could change?
- What steps could you take to make a change?
- Are there ways you could re-balance your relationship with what you do for work?
2. Explore alternate career paths.
Often, the busyness of life can sweep us in directions we didn’t intend to go. So often, people find themselves 10 or more years into a career they didn’t consciously choose and don’t really find meaningful. It’s never too late to change things up!
If wellness is your passion, you might enjoy a new career as a Health and Wellness Coach. You can find out more about the opportunities available in this path by clicking here. It can be a truly fulfilling way to make a big difference in the lives of others.
3. Make time for other passions.
While it’s great to be passionate about work, it’s important to not become a workaholic. Life is big and beautiful, full of amazing things to discover and enjoy. Taking good care of yourself means making sure you don’t only do work.
Let go of time wasters that aren’t bringing you joy and dive into interests you’ve always wanted to try. Maybe there’s an instrument you’ve always wanted to play or a skill you’ve always wanted to learn. Find ways to build a meaningful life beyond your career. It will improve your well-being in important and expansive ways.
4. Do a Wellness 360 check.
Ensure that the other elements in the Wellness 360 wheel are in balance and not negatively impacting your Careers element. Perhaps your Rest element is out of whack and affecting your performance at work. Or maybe your Relationships element needs some work so you don’t feel emotionally distressed throughout the day.
Finding balance in your wellness practice involves consciously taking stock of all areas of your life. The more that each element comes into balance, the more that others can also balance out.
Support for Others
If you’re thinking about a career shift, becoming a Holistic Health and Wellness coach might be just the path you’ve been looking for. You can help others find balance in their wellness practice and create meaningful work in their lives.
The IAWP offers a unique training program for those who want to become Wellness Coaches. From innovative support and systems, our program is structured for students ready to dive in and have a fulfilling career in the thriving wellness field. Reach out to one of our admissions counselors today!
