Your Route to Well-Being: Five Essentials for The Journey
In one of my earlier blogs, Three Components to Achieving Well-Being – Taking the Long View, I wrote that, “What you need to achieve a “state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous” will define your route to well-being. Deciding on and taking actions to get what you need will set you on your route to well-being. This route is uniquely yours because your life is uniquely your own. Other people may have chosen similar life pursuits, but your life’s journey can only be lived by you. It is not possible to duplicate another person’s life. You may face challenges that another person may not, or you may not encounter difficulties others had to face. Don’t seek to have someone else’s life, your own life has its own special and unique purpose.
Your life is uniquely yours, however, we all have a life’s journey to live and we all desire to live a life of well-being. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines well-being as “the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous.” On your journey in pursuit of well-being you must have certain essentials to be successful. Some of these essentials you may have developed years in advance over time. However, some of these essentials you may have to acquire or develop as you continue on your chosen route to well-being. The five essentials are: Motivation, Resilience, Relationships, Determination, and a Sense of Self.
Motivation – You reason, your drive, your purpose, your “why”. Your motivation will provide the answers when you question why you are enduring hardships or struggling to make progress. Remembering your “why” will energize you and strengthen your resolve to succeed despite life challenges. You need motivation at the start of your journey. You will not get started if you are not motivated to do so. Motivation is essential to getting started and continuing on your route to well-being.
Resilience – The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Resilience as, “the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens.” Resilience starts in the mind. Your attitude about your situation will affect whether you have the mental fortitude to move forward. What you tell yourself about life situations, your self-talk, will affect your resilience and well-being capacity. Seeing the positives during bad situations will encourage your spirit and help strengthen your resilience. Resilience is an essential that will be strengthened as you encounter and overcome life challenges.
Relationships – Connecting with others that can encourage and assist you on your journey to well-being is essential to making progress along your route. Whether its family, friends, colleagues, employers, lenders, organizations, or institutions, relationships can make the difference in whether you achieve your desired state of well-being. Relationships are an essential that can be developed over time and can prove crucial to your success.
Determination – Staying the course despite obstacles and barriers you encounter on your route to well-being is essential to success. Too often people get off-course or get side-tracked by temptations that delay or prevent them from achieving their desired well-being. Overcoming the obstacles, getting back on course, and staying focused on what you want to achieve require determination. You need determination to successfully complete your journey to well-being.
Sense of Self – Knowing who you are is essential to achieving well-being. If you get this wrong, you may achieve what you pursued but it will be wrong for the person you really are. You can’t achieve well-being without knowing who you are. Your sense of self will develop and strengthen as you continue on your route to well-being. Having a sense of self will inform your decisions and save you wasted time and effort pursuing something that is not right for the “real” you.
With these five essentials you will have the well-being capacity to face challenges, recover from life ordeals, and continue on your route toward your long-view well-being.
