4 Pillars of Health and what I’m doing about it

This week, we’ve got World Health Day, with the theme being “Our Planet, Our Health.” So apt, with the pandemic, pollution, and now war-our health has taken a toll in the last couple of years hasn’t it? The healthier we are, the healthier our planet it. So as a huge step for myself, and a small effort towards the planet, I took all elements of health into my own hands. My personal health journey began around 2019, when I went through a mental rough patch, and learned the hard way that mental health is just as important as physical health. As a result, I realized that there are 4 pillars of health: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. So check out the breakdown of the pillars below: and what I’m doing for each pillar of health.

Physical Health: Physical health encompasses all things with the body: exercise routine, healthy eating, sleep, and (for me) looking good. Currently for my physical health: I’m working out 5 days a week, with 2 of those days being pilates; trying to eat as healthily as possible-without following an insane diet; trying to get to bed by 9:30ish and get up by 5:30ish; drinking 8 glasses of water a day, wearing my hair naturally more often, and getting regular waxes.

Mental Health: Taking care of my physical health is doing wonders for my mental health. When I work out, eat well, sleep well, and take over all care-I feel good internally. As a result, when I am feeling better, I think more clearly. Therefore, I’ve gotten much better at saying “no” when I need time to to myself, getting away from conversations that I don’t want to be a part of, and tuning out the noise with podcasts and music. Another practice I’m doing for mental health, is waking up super early, before the rest of the household just to savor some quiet moments before the craziness of the day begins. For more on my updated mental health practices: check out this blog post.

Emotional Health: The third pillar of health is emotional health. In my opinion, there is a fine line between mental health and emotional health. However, emotional health encompasses how we handle our interactions with others and feed off other people’s energy. For emotional health, the last few years I’ve been making an effort to do whatever makes me feel good and happy in the moment-as long as I’m not hurting myself-,staying away from people who I find emotionally draining, and surrounding myself with people who are emotionally uplifting. I’ve found that doing these things for my emotional health are keeping me-well emotionally sane.

Spiritual Health: The last pillar that I brought into my life much later than the other three is spiritual health. I always used to mix up religion and spirituality, so I always ran away from things like prayer or chanting. However, I always believed in a higher self and a Universe that has my back, which started the chapter of spiritual health. So for my spiritual health, I make it a point to do a guided meditation everyday and have a moment of gratitude to the Universe. It has shifted my perspective so much that sometimes I wonder that why didn’t I do it sooner??

So those are the 4 pillars of health I’m currently working on to simply better my health. This World Health Day, bring small changes to your health because, a healthier you leads to a healthier planet.