The 6 Components of Wellness: Environmental Health

When thinking of wellness some people may question why environmental health is a component of wellness. It is easy to understand why physical health, mental & emotional health and even spiritual health is part of a wellness journey. Why is environmental health part of it?

The answer is as simple as being aware of your surroundings.

You have to be aware of what is around you, just like you are with how you think, what you eat and what you do with your everyday life. When you are aware of your environment you will start to understand how to clean it up and protect it. Not just with nature and the planet, we are talking about life as a whole. Yes, you need to be aware of your effects on nature and our plant, but it’s more than that.

How, you might be thinking? I have mapped out 5 ways to become more aware of your surroundings.

Being Chemical Free
Being Clutter Free
Recycle, reduce, reuse
Gardening
Surrounding yourself with like minded people

Since all components of wellness are closely related and each component helps another one improve, there are repeated and overlapping ideas. Maybe these are the ones we should start with, when trying to improve our own wellness, since these parts help many of the components of wellness simultaneously. Since you will be working on more than one component at a time it could help make the whole journey of improving ones wellness less stressful.

Becoming chemical free has been stated in every one of my components so far and may be in more to come. It is SOOOO important to your health to be aware of the chemicals that are in your food, cleaning supplies, body products and well
EVERYTHING. When you are buying chemical free items or even making your own, you are not only helping your personal environment but also the planet. There is less pollution put into our bodies, water, air and soil when you use clean products. This also tells the people producing food and products that we want them to produce more clean and green items for us to purchase.

I am so enamored with green cleaners and body products I can’t even imagine why someone would want to use harmful products. I have found that we are sick less, contagious barely ever, more focused and I don’t have to worry about the children and pets getting into any of my cleaning supplies, or using it. I know that it is safe to go down the drain and dump in the yard because I am not contaminating the environment. This gives me one less thing I stress myself out about and my body feels better too.
Clearing out clutter from your home is helpful for your personal environment. We talked about how it helps your mental health because having a clear home gives you a clear mind. Having a clutter free home and property will help keep germs and pests away. Of course you want to make sure you are properly getting rid of your stuff/junk/clutter because you don’t want to harm the planet. Sometimes we need to be aware of our personal surroundings first. I might get some haters for this statement and by no means am I saying the planet is not important BUT since you are trying to improve your own personal environment you can have permission to throw out and donate all unwanted and unuseful things…Maybe think “Now it is someone else’s problem”. Once you can let go of the fact that donating, recycling and throwing out useless things from your home is bad for the environment you will lift a fog from over your personal environment and family. Sometimes this is needed to clear your personal environment then once your clear of the clutter fog you can start to revisit how to purchase less and environmentally friendly items.

If you just starting off with decluttering act locally before you think globally. It will only be for a short time, than you can save the planet again. Remember some nonprofit organizations pick up or have drop off locations for your unwanted items. You can also use consignment shops, yard sales and Craigslist to make a little extra cash too. Either way, removing the clutter from your home will make feel better.

Once your clutter is gone you can start to focus on reducing, reusing and recycling. This is the best way to help not fill the landfills. Many items can be changed into new items right in your home or in the recycling plant (Up-cycling). You need to check what your local recycling company accepts, but it is really easy to start. We use two trash cans, one is for unrecyclable and the other is for anything that can be recycled. Some places will even pay you for your cans, plastic and glass if you have time and space to separate things.

You can always make something useable into something new with a little paint or fabric. There are so many tutorials on

how to use everyday items in new ways. This does not mean you can start collecting items you don’t have room to store or a plan for. You want to keep the clutter down still. If you have no plan, donate or recycle the item, someone else might find
it useful. I hear there are some crafting consignment shops that collect items for others to use. Check out if your area has one. This way it is being reused but not staying in your home.

Everyone can garden and the more you do it the better you get. Gardening and landscaping your property helps to beautify your personal environment and will also help produce clean air. This is what plants do; they take in the waste product of our breathing and create clean oxygen for us to breathe. They produce clean air, food and even medicines. Some plants can even remove toxins from inside your home. Some plants can remove harmful agents from the soil and replenish the nutrients to the land.

If you garden, and decide to grow your own fruits and vegetables you will know how your produce was grown. There is no need to use chemical on your plants to keep them disease or pest free. There are plants and oils that naturally help with that. All you have to do is ask the World Wide Web and you can find a natural solution to your problem. Gardening is also a great way to lessen your waste, because you can compost a lot of food and paper waste. This will also help your soil become healthier. Gardening is very grounding and stress relieving. Not to mention how rewarding it is when your plants produce fruits and blossoms. There is no need to worry about using too much water because there are so many plants that like low water areas or you can find water collecting solutions that do no harm the environment. Some plants will even adapt to their surroundings, which will help them use less water.

Don’t forget that the people we allow in our lives can also affect our environment. When you start to work towards wellness your thoughts and environment change. If you are around people who do not think the same way you do, this can affect you badly. It will bring you down and stop the process. This is important in real life and social media. We will be talking more about this in the component Social Health. You need to know that if you are feeling bad about your environmental health progress because someone around is not supporting your journey, you should take a step back from them for a while. You need to continue to move forward and no one should hold you back from your journey.

We should start being aware of our surroundings this week. All you need to do is get a plant, an all natural product and remove a bag of junk from your home. Or something to that effect. You will feel the benefits right away. The more changes you make in your personal environment the more you can improve the planets’ too.

Happy making changes this week!