Page 2 - Welless4Life_Chapter by Cassandra S. Shaw, Ph.D., CPC

Wellness 4 Life

When you hear the word wellness, what do you think of? Probably diet and exercise, right?

Wellness is more than diet, exercise, and visiting your doctor. Wellness is the whole of you.
Wellness is about learning how to improve your overall quality of life and health, even in the

presence of illness or imperfect health. According to The National Wellness Institute, wellness
has six dimensions: career, social, physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual.

1. Career

How satisfied are you with your career? You might be one of the 30% of Americans who
think of their job as “just a job” to get you by. Or, you might be one of the 51% of employed

Americans who say they get a sense of identity from their job. No? Then, you’re part of the other
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47% who say their job is just what they do for a living.
If you’re not satisfied, you’re more likely to experience dissatisfaction in your lifetime of
work. When it comes to career satisfaction think not only of your job, but of your lifetime of

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work. You’ll end up working about 100,000 hours in the life of your career. Whew! This is a lot
of hours to not be happy. Be satisfied with your work.

2. Social

We are human and as such we have a need to be with others. This doesn’t mean it needs to be
a lot of people all the time. We each have different levels of social needs. Having a strong social

network of support fosters strong emotional and physical health. The same holds true when you

have a strong community bond. Being around others can help you destress.

3. Physical

When you commit to taking care of yourself, you commit to your physical wellness. You get
regular physical activity and you eat healthy. Physical wellness keeps your body working

properly and you have strong bones. You stay away from bad substances, such as excessive

1 Pew Research Center: Social & Demographic Trends (2016, October 6).
2 Career Research: Career Satisfaction (n.d.).