Last Updated on March 2, 2023 by Thalia
There is no right or wrong way to do wellness. Everyone’s journey will look different as it’s your own adventure!
Follow these 5 simple steps and get started on a wellness journey that makes you feel good, both inside and out.
Table of Contents
- What is wellness
- Wellness your way
- 5 simple steps to help you get started on your wellness journey
- Final thoughts
What is wellness
Before I jump straight into how you can get started on your wellness journey, let’s first recap what the term ‘wellness’ actually means.
Wellness is about moving towards a healthy lifestyle that has a positive impact on your physical health; both inside and out.
Popular practices include getting plenty of sleep, building healthy habits and avoiding unhealthy ones, eating a well-balanced diet, exercising and indulging in self-care.
A wellness journey is therefore quite simply about putting these practices into action and altering your lifestyle to better support your needs.
However, I feel as though over the past few years, the core meaning of wellness has become misleading.
And the term, which is essentially supposed to be a positive word, is becoming more and more intimidating, toxic and quite frankly pretentious.
From ridiculously expensive beauty products and treatments to luxury retreats and bizarre health diets, everyone is buying into the latest wellness trend to make them feel younger, be healthier, fitter and eat cleaner.
But the truth is, you don’t need to drink green juice every morning to be “well.”
Likewise, you don’t need to start your day by meditating or powering through a 50-mins spin class. Only do those things if you actually enjoy them.
Wellness also doesn’t need to look like buying ridiculously expensive beauty products, getting the latest skin treatment or trying a bizarre new diet.
And it certainly doesn’t look like dropping $10k on a luxury health retreat.
Wellness can be simple and affordable.
So let’s dig a little deeper into how you can get started on a realistic wellness journey that makes you feel good.
Wellness your way
It’s essential that when you get started with your wellness journey you are setting it up to work for you, and only you.
As everyone’s idea of a wellness journey will look different.
On social media, there’s a big emphasis to drink a smoothie in the morning, meditate, and do a high-intensity workout.
Made popular by the trending “that girl” aesthetic, wellness has now been reduced to 2-sec clips of face masks, drinking green juices, making the bed, squatting and practising gratitude.
But your wellness journey isn’t supposed to be aesthetically pleasing. It might not look like drinking a green juice in the morning followed by a (sweat-free) HIIT workout and a meditation session.
Remember, social media isn’t always real life, it’s a highlight reel.
For me, my wellness journey has always been about avoiding burnout, making more time for myself, adopting a slower pace to life and putting my mental health and happiness first.
It’s been uncomfortable, challenging and at times emotional.
So just remember, there is no right or wrong way to do wellness.
It doesn’t have to be about ditching the carbs, eating clean and doing yoga twice a day.
Just because it’s a trend on TikTok doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you.
So let’s normalise the messy reality of self-improvement and the fact that the moments that truly make us aren’t always going to be “insta-worthy.”
Don’t allow the “that girl” trend to put you off and work towards your own version of wellness.
Let’s normalise the messy reality of self-improvement and the fact that the moments that truly make us aren’t always going to be “insta-worthy”
Notes By Thalia
5 simple steps to help you get started on your wellness journey
1 | Set your intention
Whenever you start something new, it’s important to establish your intentions first. This will also help you to determine whether you are embarking on this wellness journey for the right reasons.
To do this, figure out what needs to change in your life to make you feel happier and healthier.
Whether this is eating more fruit and veg, exercising more, getting more sleep, dedicating more time to self-care, embracing your imperfections or detoxing from social media, etc.
Do a deep dive into your needs and answer these journal prompts:
- What part(s) of my life am I currently neglecting and want to give more attention to?
- What change(s) do I want to see in my life? How will this make me feel better?
- What changes(s) am I willing to commit to?
- How much time am I willing to commit to my wellness journey each day/week/month?
- What is no longer adding value to my life? What could I let go of?
Before you start this journey it’s important to know what you’re looking to improve on so you can make it relevant to you. So make sure it’s coming from the heart.
Don’t let anyone else influence your goal. You get to decide, no one else.
2 | Create a wellness vision
Once you have established your intentions, build some excitement and motivation around your new journey by creating a wellness vision.
Just like a vision board for your life, a wellness vision will highlight everything you want to achieve and how you want to feel.
It’s this vision that will push you to keep going when you lack motivation. It will fuel your excitement and passion to reach your goals.
In short, it is the spark for the flame (not sure if that makes sense but we’ll go with it).
Your wellness vision will remind you of why you are making these changes in the first place. And knowing your why is gold dust because it will serve you more than anything else.
Need help establishing your why?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Why am I doing this?
- What will prioritising my health and wellness give me?
- How will reaching my wellness vision positively impact what’s important to me?
Your wellness vision can take on any form or medium. Get creative and make a funky collage with pictures and motivating words. It can even be a short written statement or a letter to your future self. Or if you’re more inspired by audio, then voice record your vision.
Write it, read it, listen to it or print it out. Stick your wellness vision on the fridge or make it your screensaver. Look or listen to it every day to remind you why you started this journey.
And whenever you feel stuck, refer back to your vision. Repeat your vision back to yourself and always ask yourself, “What will this give me?”
3 | Break it all down into manageable goals
Once you have set your intention(s) for your wellness journey and created a vision, it’s now time to break it all down into more manageable chunks to help decrease the overwhelm.
This will also make it easier for you to stay motivated on your journey.
And remember to always start small with your wellness goals.
Don’t go all-in on the first day with a hardcore 2-hour intense gym session or only eating rainbow-coloured foods.
Ease in slowly.
If your intention is to move your body every day, start with a 20-min walk around the block every other day. Carve out your 20-mins walk in your schedule when you know you’ll be able to commit to it.
Once you’ve formed the habit and you feel more confident, increase the duration or number of times you walk a week.
Eventually, you will be moving your body instinctively every day, and adopting a healthier lifestyle.
You can then use this as the foundation for upping the ante on your intention. Whether this is adding in a yoga session or gym workout after your walk.
Bonus tip: use the “smarter” method to set goals
- Specific – Your goals need to be detailed and specific. Clarify your goal by asking, what is the achievement? Why is this important? Who else is involved?”
- Measurable – You must be able to track your progress as this helps you to stay focused. This will also allow you to feel a sense of excitement as you get closer to your goal.
- Achievable – Don’t make wishes! Yes, your goals need to be challenging but they still need to be attainable. So make your goals achievable. Don’t just sit there manifesting hoping they will come true. You need to put in the work.
- Realistic – Be honest with yourself when writing down your goals. Are you capable? Do you have the drive and commitment? Do you have the means to reach your goals? Can you afford to reach each goal? E.g. If your goal is to follow a carnivore diet, then you need to have money to spend on high-quality grass-fed meat and if you don’t, then you need to make that your first goal.
- Time-based – Put a deadline in place so you have something to work towards. You’ll be more efficient with your time and be able to prioritise the time, habits, etc that will get you closer to your wellness goals.
- Exciting – Make your goals enticing and inspiring. You don’t want them to feel like a chore as it will put you off. I value fun and so I never want to set boring goals for myself, I want my goals to excite me. So next time you set wellness goals, make them exciting. It might be the hack you never know you needed.
- Recognise + Reward – Regularly review progress and celebrate your small wins! It will make the journey to reaching your goals a lot more enjoyable, plus you will gain more momentum when you actively look at results. And reward yourself once you hit your goal. If you make your goal satisfying in this way then you are more likely to stick to it.
4 | Keep a journal and reflect
We consume so much content during our day-to-day lives that we are influenced by others without even realising it.
If you are inspired to build on your wellness routine through youtube videos, self-help books, podcasts, etc, make sure you take a step back every so often and reflect on what you have learnt and taken on board.
Does everything align with you and your journey?
I recommend doing this on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. Keep a journal and make notes. Reflect on how your journey is making you feel. This is one of the only ways to know for sure if you are embarking on a wellness journey that suits you.
I also recommend setting clear boundaries before starting and during your journey. This might look like limiting the amount of toxic information you consume so you don’t get sucked into the dark side of the wellness industry. Or not comparing your journey to anyone else’s or getting caught up in unhealthy dietary trends.
Setting boundaries on your wellness journey can even look like allowing yourself to not always be striving for more but to just be for a while.
You will also find that by journaling, reflecting and setting boundaries, you are more likely to stick to your wellness plan as you have more confidence and trust in yourself.
Bonus Tip: Use this Daily Wellness Planner
Go one step further in your wellness journey with The Daily Wellness and Self-Care Planner.
This 18-page planner will provide you with the accountability and structure you need to plan your wellness routine so you can feel healthier each day.
Use it to:
- Build a morning & evening routine that works for you
- Successfully build better habits
- Track sleep
- Map out your meals & exercise for a healthy week
- Reflect on the day and practice gratitude
- Plan out a week of self-care activities
- Journal your thoughts & feelings
- Plus much much more
5 | Be flexible with your journey and enjoy the process
Your wellness journey is not going to be a quick-fix solution. It is a lifelong process that you need to work on every day. So make sure you are enjoying it.
If your wellness journey doesn’t make you feel happy (or healthy) then tear it up and start over.
It shouldn’t feel like a chore.
The key is to make it work for you. You get to choose your goals, you get to choose what approach you take, and you get to choose what methods and practices you use.
So customise it until it makes you feel good.
And be aware that your needs may change as you do, so you might need to adjust your journey accordingly.
Oh, and remember to not get so caught up in your journey that you forget to have fun and actually live your life!
“Life is not about the destination, but about the journey instead. We get so caught up in focusing on the final goal that life just passes us by in the process. In many ways well-being is the same. Well-being is not suddenly achieved once we attain these goals, it is with us all the way.”
Dr. Marcus Ranney | Thrive Global
Save these tips on Pinterest for later
Final thoughts
I hope you find these tips on how to get started on a wellness journey useful.
I encourage you to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it at any time.
And just like with all my other tips, I recommend you test them out first before sticking to them as what works for me might not necessarily work for you.
Use them as a guide until you are happy with the outcome.
And never beat yourself up if things don’t go according to plan.
As long as you feel healthier and happier than you did the year before then that’s all that matters!
Until next week,
♡ Thalia xx
Leave a Reply