The 6 Components of Wellness: Social Health

In our journey of studying about the 6 components of wellness we have talked about, Physical Health, Mental and Emotional Health, and Environmental Health and how they are all connected to each other. They all work towards one goal of overall wellness and a healthy lifestyle. They can also change our social life. Social health is a part of wellness because we have to be able to interact well within society to have a healthy life. If any of the other areas of wellness are not carefully attended too then our social health may suffer.

On Your Dictionary (.com) Social health is defined as:

how a person gets along with other people
a person’s level of support from people and institutions around them
how well a society does at offering every citizen the equal opportunity to obtain access to the goods and services critical to being able to function as a contributing member of society

We humans are social creatures. We interact with others on a daily basis both, in real life and on social media outlets. We affect the people we encounter as much as they affect us. It is up to you on how you want the encounter to go, positively or negatively. It is 100% your choice. The more you learn about living a well lifestyle, the more aware you become of the choices you get to make. Choices like; who you are, who you want to be, who you want to be around and how you like to be treated, become yours again if you start to live a mindful life. Once you have a healthy outlook on life you become completely in control of your life and begin to see that you don’t have to give that power away to anyone.

Here are some suggestions to help move forward with your social health:

Always be yourself in all situations, no one can take away who you are or tell you who you are. Don’t be afraid to let people know what you like or dislike about what they are doing/saying. One of my favorite quotes about being yourself is…

“Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!” ~Dr. Seuss

Be a clear communicator; express what you believe clearly for others.
Treat others with respect-
- Turn your TV off when you have visitors
- Put down your phone when friends are around
- Treat others how you want to be treated.
Limit your social media time-
- Have a better real life than your social media life
- Clean up your social media profiles, unfollow/unfriend people or organizations that are frustrating you. Don’t let their problems be your problems. If you’ve outgrown a person or idea then let go of them, life is a journey and not everyone/thing is going to be there forever…even if you once thought they would be.
- Don’t let virtual interaction be your only interaction. Get outside
  your computer, do activities with your family/friends that are fun filled-it’ll ensure your life is fulfilling. Make good memories with good people so you have something to recall when you’re old and gray(er).
Surround yourself with like minded people. Like minded people will help you grow and learn. These people should be supporting you in every adventure you take on.
Interact with everyone, even your cashiers. Mr JEM does this at the grocery a lot. Keep it positive, smile, use their name, and thank them. You might just make their day. Make eye contact.
Always remember the golden rules you learned in kindergarten-
- If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all
- Do to others what you want done to you.
- No hitting, kicking or biting. 🙂
- Put things back where you found them
- If it doesn’t belong to you leave it be
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone (and mean it)
- Sharing is caring
Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work, every day…some
Smile more than you frown. It makes a difference to everyone around you.
Make sure you keep a good balance between your social time and your personal time

As you start to become aware of the types of people you want to surround yourself with you might want to shut down or pull away from people who are not like minded. You may feel like no one understands the changes you are making. All of that is normal, especially if you have made a sudden realization that your old lifestyle was harming you or stunting your growth in some way (intellectually, emotionally, physically etc) If you know someone who is making new or different healthy lifestyle choices encourage them in their journey.

There are lots of groups in your local community, and online, that are full of people living healthy lifestyles. Most communities are very welcoming and have lots of knowledge that they are willing to share, if you ask. In the same way that you would network for a job you would network for like minded people. Use key words in your online searches that pertain to what you are looking for. Each local community has different groups, search your area for food co-ops, non dominational churches, mommy and me groups. Take a class, cooking, meditation and yoga. You are bound to find someone who is also living a healthy lifestyle.

Online communities are very easy to find, especially with all the different social media platforms we have now-a-days. You can find private groups, open groups and tons of blogs on wellness, health and lifestyles all over Facebook and Twitter. All you need to do is follow one person in the wellness movement and they can lead you to many more. Most of individuals leading the wellness movement mention many other people to check out. They share others with like minded lifestyles in order to help us all grow along with them. Remember use your key words to find the groups (Zen, wellness, fit, work out, physical fitness, healthy lifestyle, yoga, meditation etc.). Here is a great facebook group Xen Bliss Community that is willing to support anyone in their wellness journey.

The more you work towards a healthy social life by including yourself in communities, the more you will learn about yourself and overall wellness. Eventually you will be able to help someone else more forward in their journey towards wellness. Maybe you will be the light they are looking for.

Are you involved in any local groups that help you continue your wellness journey?

Subscribe to get the last two components right into your inbox…

Namaste ❤

JEM