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Do you know anyone who’s into getting in shape, yet ignores other areas they need to work on?
Perhaps they’re one of those people who always eats the right foods (you know, the kale and quinoa crowd) and who seems to be at the gym all the time. But maybe they have a bad habit—one they can’t stop that is messing up their lives—that they do nothing about.
Unfortunately, a good Body Fat Index won’t fix their addiction problem.
Figuring Out What’s Missing from Wellness
The approach many people—and companies—take to wellness is like that. But what is wellness?
“Wellness is an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.” (National Wellness Institute)
Wow, that’s great! But the way many people—and companies—approach wellness is incomplete.
Because it’s much more than physical fitness. It encompasses a broader, multidimensional lifestyle that integrates emotional, personal, and spiritual components along with the physical.
And when there are compulsive habits or addictions involved, eating right and exercise won’t fix the problem. Surely good things to do, but not enough for people to become well.
It’s like spending hours waxing a car that has dangerously bald tires and bad breaks. Sometimes, it’s like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Filling in What’s Missing from Wellness
About 75% of people with addiction work full-time. And addiction is not only treatable, it is preventable! Why don’t businesses do more to help their people? Good question.
Current approaches to business—and personal—wellness tend to ignore the issue that is: the most dangerous, the most widespread, the most ignored, and the most preventable.
It doesn’t make sense. And companies—and the people that work at them—are being harmed in the process. But there is a solution.
Because there are skills and knowledge that can make employees better at work, and which can also enhance their lives and prevent addiction. What’s missing from wellness can be addressed by:
- Understanding addiction – How it works, root causes and warning signs, dealing with stigma, helping others who are struggling, and getting help and recovery.
- Developing resilience – Understanding burnout, managing our mindset, dealing with stress, and developing good coping habits.
- Learning life enhancement skills – A balanced lifestyle, greater awareness of self and surroundings, positive connection with others, life management tools, and a personal plan.
- Setting a wellness foundation – Establishing a positive lifestyle based on emotional well-being, personal intentionality, and spiritual understanding.
This approach integrates the best aspects of recovery-informed addiction prevention, resilience, life-improvement, and wellness. It can work for companies and for the people who work there.
It can also work for you. And you can get there one step at a time.
Taking a New Approach to Wellness
What’s missing from wellness?
What’s missing is an integrated approach to addiction prevention and life-enhancement: practical steps that can turn lives around, and improve the effectiveness of the companies they work for.
It can be achieved by using recovery-informed principles and tools to get ahead of problems before our lives come apart. And, at the same time, developing the practical skills to live life better. Anyone can learn it, and it’s easily accessible online. Safe, confidential, useful—life-changing.
With compulsive or addictive behavior, avoiding the issue will be costly, because addiction is the enemy of wellness. It negatively affects all aspects of who we are emotionally, personally, and spiritually. And it degrades us occupationally, socially, intellectually, and physically.
The good news is that it works the other way as well. Taking the right steps to enhance our lives and prevent addiction will have a positive impact across all those same areas.
People—and companies—often address the easy problems and ignore the most serious ones.
Why not flip it around? Work on the critical issues first. Once those are under control, it will be much easier to make improvement in other areas. By filling in what’s missing from wellness, life can be much better. And people—and companies—can get there one step at a time.
Question: What’s missing from wellness habits you have put in place in your life?
Action: Learn more about recovery-informed principles that can change your life.
