July 19 Wellness Wire - Let's Begin!

This morning I started my day with coffee, a devotion, a beautiful sunrise, and a bit of movement. In other words, I started my day with peace, perspective, and purpose. Regardless of how the next 10-12 hours of my day may go, I know that I laid the foundation for how I want to feel internally and react to the people and situations I will encounter.

How we approach our day, a relationship, a meeting, or the new school year can start with the same type of intention - Building a culture of well-being by laying the foundation. One where we're intentional about our emotional and physical environment and how we want to feel and react to the people and situations around us. Or, the environment we want to create and foster to serve others.

It's easy in our busy world to lose the connection between culture and well-being. But our emotional, intellectual, physical, environmental, spiritual, financial, and social wellness is integrated into every aspect of our lives. Wellness is our culture. It can be a healthy, thriving one or a toxic, soul-depleting daily experience. One where we may, in various ways, self-medicate our way out of every night then wake up and do it all over again. That's no life. 

 With a new day, week, season or school year, we have the opportunity to start laying a new foundation with this understanding - We all deserve to experience a life we don't feel the need to escape from. One that fosters feelings of joy, accomplishment, success, support, respect, and connection. Wellness isn't a check the box. It is the box.  Let's begin living that out today!

My encouragement to you this week is to reflect on how you want to begin this school year - or any new season. How do you want to build (or maintain) a culture of wellness with yourself and those around you through communication, humility, empathy, listening, recognition, and appreciation? It's a foundational-culture-building time and we get a new opportunity to strengthen it by embedding wellness into everything we do because that's where it belongs.