The single most important thing one can do to make sure the aspects of health and wellness are in order is to take responsibility for your actions.

That means both the good ones, but also the less beneficial ones. You can’t take care of your body if you don’t take ownership of your own decisions.

• Physical health

  The first area of wellness is our physical health.
  
  We know that exercising is one of the best ways to maintain or regain our physical health.
  
  BOTH resistance training like weightlifting or doing body-weighted movements for instance AND cardiovascular training like walking, jogging, and swimming, for example, contribute greatly to our physical wellbeing.
  
  Exercising in general has multiple health benefits such as injury prevention, and improved mental health due to the dopamine that’s being released when we exercise, which ends up making us feel better while simultaneously losing weight in the process.
   
  Working out can even cure, or at least improve your depression, whereas cardiovascular training is vital for a multitude of reasons.

  

  Firstly, it helps our mental state by clearing/distracting the mind, which in turn reduces the amount of stress we experience. That’s especially true when these activities are performed in the serene environment of mother nature.
  
  It is good for the health of your organs like your heart and lungs. But it also reduces the chance of other physical issues and illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. In short, everyone should work out for their own sake!
  
  Research has shown that resistance training like weightlifting for example has a variety of health benefits.
  
  It makes your muscles, tendons, and even your bones grow stronger, making injuries less likely to happen. It also allows you to lift heavy objects during your everyday life without hurting your back in the process. In short, it aids our physical and mental well-being.
  
  The quote: “A healthy mind in a healthy body” is appropriate here. And I couldn’t agree more.
  
  To me, being in good physical health and establishing a positive mental state are interconnected, as health is multifaceted. Thus, logically, it requires a varied approach to hit all targets.

• Mental health

  

  So, how do you take care of your mental wellness? Well, we must first realize that a lot of dimensions of health contribute to our psychological state.
  
  Human beings need meaningful interactions with friends and family members to feel fulfilled. Fun fact: Both introverts and extroverts need social interaction, they just differ in how much social stimulation they want.
  
  These purposeful relationships with our peers give us a sense of belonging to people, and to the world itself, if you will. If we don’t get the required amount of interaction with one another, then our mood and mental health will start to deteriorate.
  
  Being socially deprived brings along tension. If this mental strain keeps going for a prolonged period, then your mind might very well dwell in dark places, thus leading to a general worsening of your psychological attitude.
  
  This can cause depression or hurt our prosperity. If you are, or happen to get depressed in the future, then do not despair. As terrible as it is and sounds, it is still treatable, and even entirely curable!

  

  Try to reduce mental strain and anxiety to a minimum by doing relaxing activities like gardening, exercising, and even by practicing mindfulness. Everything that calms, eases, and/or distracts the mind from the more stressful parts of our existence.
  
  Remember that we all need to blow off some steam from time to time. We’re only humans, and not machines, after all.
  
  Voluntarily challenging and facing the things that cause you to experience anxiety and uneasy sensations is the key to reducing those associated negative feelings.
  
  That’s because you get braver as you challenge those emotions, and not because those antagonistic feelings will magically disappear, contrary to popular belief.
  
  You will start to notice that you are indeed capable of controlling your fears. Consequently, you’ll start feeling more in control of your life. This in itself will already go a long way to reduce anxiety and mental strain.
  
  You can attempt to avoid negative feelings entirely for a while, but eventually, you will have to face them, or they will become, and remain an obstacle for the rest of your life.
  
  Even avoiding adverse emotions and things that make you feel uneasy won’t make you feel good about it in the moment. It’ll likely stress you out because you know that you are avoiding the very things you need to contest and fix to overcome them!

• Spirituality

  

  Take note that spirituality is not necessarily related to religion. Although religion can most certainly be a part of a person’s spirituality.
  
  Spirituality is basically what makes you, well, you. Your identity, or personality, let’s say. That means that it’s not the same as faith in this context.
  
  It is one of the most important facets to develop in life. It includes your value system, and personal beliefs, in addition to your principles.
  
  These values start developing from the moment you are self-conscious as a child, till the moment you cease to exist.
  
  Those principles will be influenced by the people you hold dear, and who are significant to you. This is why it’s critical to have good role models early on in life, by the way! 

  

  But no matter how much we would want to at times, other people can’t do all the work for us. You will have to evolve and integrate the values you find substantial on your own.
  
  Having a goal is the most vital thing in existence. Without a purpose in life, nothing matters.
  
  The advantage of not having a goal in life is that nothing matters (nihilism). The disadvantage of not having a purpose, and it’s a big one, is that you are suffering meaninglessly. That’s because nothing matters from that point of view.
  
  That’s why I recommend people to search for a purpose and to set goals in the process. It must be important to you.
  
  It can be something as trivial as cleaning your room every day, so there’s less chaos and more structure in your life. But it can go much further and become more complicated, like getting a degree for a job you would like to do in the future. Or getting your family life in order, for instance.
  
  Remember to think your ends through well! The goal must be influential and of value to you. This way, you’ll get to create the best possible version of yourself, while living your life to the fullest as well.

• Healthy diet

  

  And lastly, a healthy diet is important.
  
  There’s an ancient quote that says: “You are what you eat.” And there’s a lot of truth and wisdom to be found in this sentence.
  
  It ranges from eating solid, unprocessed foods and drinking water, to drugs we put into our bodies. As we all know, consuming drugs, which includes alcohol, and especially alcohol, is addictive in addition to destructive.
  
  In the short term, they might not show their immediate detrimental effects except making you addicted, which we often don’t realize until it’s already too late.
  But in the long term, they WILL undoubtedly be damaging to your overall health. What’s more, is that your social and work life will deteriorate over time.
  
  In the food and drinks department, it’s quite simple. Try to eat organic foods and drink liquids that are naturally occurring in the world. Preferably, meat that’s free from hormones and vegetables that are not sprayed with pesticides.
  
  This means unprocessed foods, and water instead of sugary drinks such as soda.
  
  Oh, and no smoking either! However, society has already made huge strides regarding smoking, and the negative health effects are generally well-known and documented.