Personal Wellness Wheel

Our personal Wellness Wheel can be compared to a motor vehicle with respect to assessment, diagnosis, maintenance and repair...WAIT…. I know you have heard the “our bodies are machines that must be maintained speech” before but I implore you to ponder it for a moment more. Periodically, we take our vehicle into the shop for exploration and examination of the inner parts. This allow us to check the parts that are not readily visible. If we wait until the operating system and the various parts malfunction, the damage to the car may unnecessarily increase.

      There are parts of us—much like in a car—that are not immediately visible or obvious to the eye. These hidden parts play a critical role in our body’s overall function and wellness. If we wait until our “operating system” and the essential elements begin to malfunction or fail, we risk causing unnecessary damage to ourselves. Our proactive care and attention are necessary to prevent minor issues from becoming major setbacks, therefore assessment, repair, and maintenance leads to a much more positive outcome. However, this blog is not about preventative maintenance. It is about the importance of asking ourselves, “where am I in my wellness process?” and “what is my next step of getting to the maintenance stage?” of healthy, whole-istic living.

      The wheel/tire/brakes and axle (I’m not a mechanic so please allow me grace on the car parts) make up key pillars of a motor vehicle.  I am passionate about encouraging humans to attend to their key pillars our bodies, sometimes referred to as our temple. Our physical, emotional and spiritual health is equivalent to the complex machinery of vehicles (absent the spiritual aspect). These are the very most valuable pillars of our Wellness Wheel, Puzzle, or Chart; however, you choose to envision it. Our minds and bodies are constantly trying to balance our “wheel” to protect us from harm.  Too often, I see people, and sometimes myself, with our physical and emotional systems out of balance. Ironically, our family, friends, and acquaintances often notice the imbalance before we do, just like we notice the guy driving past us with his tires going round and round all wonky. What’s more unfortunate is that we get very adept at functioning with out-of-balance wheels. Just like motor vehicles, we can keep travelling down a road for a good while on our out of kilter wheels. Unfortunately, the unseen damage to the integral parts of our “car” are slowly and steadily being damaged.  Providing ourselves with purposeful effort towards achieving and maintaining a high level of wellness is equivalent to taking our vehicle to a great mechanic.

     I refer to myself as a whole-istic coach because I deeply believe that the pursuit of our physical, emotional and spiritual wellness is keenly tied to the optimal equilibrium we need in our wellness wheel. Yes, it would be so cool to walk into a bay and have a machine spit out all the diagnosis and repair needed. Unfortunately, our bodies can’t merely be plugged into a diagnostics machine for answers. Assessment, repair and maintenance of our Wellness Trifecta is a bit more complicated. I encourage you to find a “mechanic” or two you trust to help YOU assess, repair and maintain your physical, emotional, and spiritual trifecta. Whether it be a community or an individual, whatever floats your boat, go for it. Arthur Ashe said it best when he said, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.”  Unlike motor vehicles, we can’t sell or trade for a different vehicle. It is easy to forget that we only get one body for this time on earth. It’s never too late to bring it to optimal performance, so that we may live our best lives.

All the best to you,

Leslie