Your Holistic Well-Being

Definition of the word “Holistic”: characterized by the belief that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

Holistic well-being for a person hence means to take care of and nurture all essential areas of our lives. It is about living a balanced lifestyle.

It is not uncommon for us to struggle with achieving this. In this digital age, with a myriad of distractions and demands for your time and attention, we may fail to nurture other equally important areas like spirituality, health, and family.

While some areas of our lives will inevitably be stronger than others and take up much more of our time and effort, it is crucial to remind ourselves to give adequate attention to other areas of our lives. This creates balance and enables continual progress, which allows you to achieve a sense of fulfillment while getting better outcomes in the various aspects of your life.

Many of us set goals to help us achieve growth. However, we often set and view them on their own without much thought on how each individual goal can impact other areas of our lives. To ensure a holistic self-development, we need to understand that goals are usually interconnected, where different aspects of our lives overlap to achieve those goals.

Besides increased productivity, peace of mind and sense of overall fulfillment, achieving holistic well-being also provides you with the following:

• Ongoing happiness
• Loving family relationships
• Strong friendships
• Self-confidence
• Good health
• Financial security
• Intellectual fulfillment

Are you leading a fulfilling and enriching life?

Do you recognize areas in your life you might be neglecting or could improve?

Faith

We all experience an innate need to be a part of something greater than ourselves - either to make a difference in the world or have an impact on others.

Whether faith to you is in the religious context or simply just having faith that things in your life will work out, faith is an important part of our lives.

Faith keeps us from giving up, from throwing in the towel too quickly when life gets difficult. It directs us to our purpose and helps us find the strength we need to pull through hardships. Faith can also be our weapon against fear, anxiety, and stress.

Live your life according to your faith and strive to grow spiritually while helping others toward greater fulfillment.

Family

Having enough quality family time helps one feel a sense of belonging and build healthy bonds with your family.

We may sometimes neglect our family because we think it is more important to commit our time to work, but your mental and perhaps even physical health can very much depend on establishing close relationships with your family.

For parents, scheduling family time gives you a platform to proactively be a positive influence in your children’s lives. This can impact them greatly and help them grow into mature, responsible adults who deal with situations, relationships and many other aspects in a healthy manner.

Love, mutual respect, openness, and sharing are fundamentals of healthy family relationships we should all strive to achieve.

Friends

Maintaining friendships and a healthy social life contributes to our lives positively in many ways.

Friends can provide you with perspective, encourage open-mindedness, and you can learn many things about yourself and others from mingling and socializing.

Forming good friendships can also aid you a great deal in whatever you choose to do with your personal or professional life. No man is an island, we all need connections and help from friends to achieve more.

At times, we also need friends to challenge our thoughts and actions, so that we are encouraged to think critically before making any reckless decisions. We too may conversely be a positive influence for some of our friends.

Remember that our network determines our net worth.

Fitness and Health

It should not be a surprising fact that keeping physically fit comes with a great number of benefits.

The most obvious benefit would be that you become physically healthier and stronger. But did you also know that regular exercise can help you improve your quality of life and even saves you money?

Your mood and mental health are improved with regular exercise. You are also less susceptible to many sorts of diseases, illnesses and other health issues or complications - which prevents you from having to spend exorbitant sums on expensive medical care. Your life expectancy also increases with regular exercise.

Do you have a healthy lifestyle – regular exercise, eat healthily – to live as long as you can?

Don’t forget to keep your mental and emotional health in check too. You can manage your stress levels by making leisure time a priority or doing mindful meditation to name a few.

Financial

Financial stability can be achieved when we learn to live within our means.

We also need to understand how to plan and apply strategies to create, accumulate and preserve our finances in a way that corresponds to the stages of our lives.

In general, these are the 5 Steps to Achieve Financial Freedom.

A. Ability to earn

We all have our own sets of Talents and Skills.

We need to recognize them and use them productively.

Remember to regularly upgrade yourself through improving your skills or learning new ones.

How are you using your talents and skills to make a living?

B. Income > Expenses

This is regarding Stewardship and being prudent about your own finances.

It is important to allocate our finances according to our priorities.

Live within your means and continuously make efforts to expand your means.

How are we handling our finances?

Are we spending more than we can afford?

Do we have concrete plans to increase our earning power?

C. Savings

Saving money is a healthy Habit that should be cultivated.

A good rule of thumb is to allocate 20% of your monthly income into a savings account.

It is advisable to set up automatic transfers to a savings account and also set both short and long term goals - for example, a short term one would be saving up enough to buy the new iPhone 11 and a long term one would be saving enough for the down-payment of a new car.

We should also frequently think through our purchasing decisions and not thoughtlessly or impulsively spend on things we don’t necessarily need.

D. Investment

Investments are about Opportunities and Diversification.

Learn to recognize good investment opportunities and continuously diversify your investment portfolio.

E. Passive Income

We will achieve Financial Freedom when our Passive Income is more than our expenses.

And that’s what we want to strive towards.

Some methods of earning passive income include high-interest savings account, rental from real estate, high quality bonds, dividend stocks, and annuity income program.

Field of work

Career progression and development are crucial for one’s overall well-being. They improve one’s self-esteem and career prospects, increase motivation and skill-sets and may even help us realize our ultimate goals and dreams.

We should strive to become more productive, have a good learning attitude, improve our professional esteem and contribute to the organizations we work in. We can also uplift the careers of our colleagues or teammates through leadership and mentorship.

Where do you desire to be in your career?

Fun and Recreation

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Sometimes it might feel like our time and life is not really our own, due to work obligations and so on. This can lead to a build-up of stress, so keep in mind to schedule a time for leisure and recreation, ie. time for yourself.

Besides just having fun, we can also dedicate our free time towards self-development activities like reading self-help books and doing some meditation and reflection to balance and calm our minds.

How do you intend to better yourself?

The mind and the body are not separate. What affects one, affects the other.

Every part of our life is important, and when one area is out of harmony or out of balance, it puts a strain on the other areas.

Many people are caught up with making a living – and not designing their life. But to be able to design your life, you must first create your map of where you are today. Review the areas of your life and let's get started on your journey to the extraordinary life you desire – and deserve.

This article was first published here.