Guided by some of our favorite thinkers, researchers, and writers, including Jocelyn K. Glei, the National Wellness Institute, Abraham Maslow, and Victoria Erickson, here are a few things we learned about prioritizing overall wellness this month:

It’s about what’s right for you — nothing else matters.  

Every day, we are inundated with messages around wellness and self-care, whether overtly in advertisements trying to sell us something, or sneakily in the comparison-game of social media. These messages and tools aren’t necessarily bad, but the combination can create shame around how we care (and struggle to care) for ourselves. They trick us into thinking overall wellness is a quick fix with a one-stop-shop solution that works for everyone. But wellness is personal and fluid, it evolves with time and there is simply no one prescription. It looks different for each and every one of us, and we should never make assumptions about someone’s wellness journey by looking at them. The goal for us is this: to give you tools to reflect on what you need, and help you bring positive change into your life, whatever that looks like for you.

We’re keeping our personal Wellness journey front of mind this month with our Wellness Art Downloads.

As always, balance is key.

Sometimes it feels like wellness is just about cutting out the bad things in our lives. But it can be helpful to consider what we could use both less and more of. Maybe to feel your best you need a little less stress and more relaxation (treat your self to that massage!). Maybe to feel good you need more meaningful time with friends and less time watching Netflix, or more veggies that you actually enjoy and less plain steamed broccoli. 😉 For each unhealthy subtraction, try to think of a healthy, positive addition.

We reflect on this wellness activity in this month’s Digital Wellness Guide.

A broader scope.

Wellness (as distinct from health) aims not just to address pain or illness, but an overall sense of what we need to feel our personal best and live up to our unique potential. When we polled our Holstee Member Community on Facebook (the private group is a perk just for our Holstee Members!) about which dimension of wellness they want to focus on most this year, the results were split almost evenly between physical and emotional wellness, with spiritual and social wellness following not too far behind. Each piece is essential and worth addressing. 👍

Speaking of dimensions…

The National Wellness Institute outlines Six Dimensions of Wellness, a holistic model that helps us assess and understand this fuller picture of wellness. These categories are: physical, emotional, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, and social. This model is particularly helpful for considering aspects of wellness beyond strictly physical and emotional. It encourages us to think about how we connect with the world and people around us, how often we engage in creative and intellectually-stimulating activities, and how we challenge and understand our roles and purpose as humans — all of which contribute to living a truly meaningful life.

We explore the Six Dimensions of Wellness extensively in this month’s Digital Wellness Guide.

Check in regularly and with intention.

It’s natural to look to others for advice and guidance when it comes to wellness but don’t forget to check in with your mind and body to see what you really need. Maybe this just means taking a few minutes at the beginning and end of the day to assess how you’re feeling, making adjustments to your routine to allow for a little extra sleep when you need it or a walk around the block during a moment of stress, or even a mindful meditation to recenter and focus on your breath. 

🙌 Bonus! This month, we created our very own audio for a guided Body Scan Meditation (a little something extra just for Members!). Check it out in our Wellness Curated Resources or by texting 'Meditation' to Maslow, the Holstee Chatbot.

P.S. Holstee Members 👋: Don’t forget to check out this month’s theme page to access the Guided Reflection Journal, Curated Resources, and the Reflection Art desktop and mobile art downloads to go a little deeper into all of these concepts and keep the theme at the front of your mind this month!  

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Jennifer Lioy is a writer, designer, illustrator, feelings-haver, and all-things-doer at Holstee (technically, the Creative and Community Lead if anyone's asking). She lives in Austin, TX and wishes she could eat breakfast tacos every day. If given the chance, she will corner you in a bar to ask you what you’re afraid of.