Personal Health and Wellbeing

Maintaining health and wellbeing is a challenge that every single person in the world faces. They may face it differently and have their own individual challenges, but it is something that we can all relate to in one way or another.

We all approach our own health and wellbeing in our own way, but sometimes we tend to put ourselves last, especially those who work in a service industry like ECE where you are putting the needs of others first. This can also be true in our personal lives where we put the needs of our own children or family first and ourselves last.

In this part of the course, we will be looking at what health and wellbeing mean from a holistic standpoint alongside strategies that we can put in place to manage our own health and wellbeing.

HEALTH	Typical definition of health - the state of being free from illness or injury; a person’s physical conditions

We know that, for our purposes, true health is so much more. We need to include our mental, social, and spiritual health, along with our physical wellbeing to ensure that we are looking after ourselves holistically.

Types of Self-Care

Each area of self-care needs to be nurtured and protected for a person to be healthy in a holistic sense. 

• Physical
• Social
• Mental and Emotional
• Spiritual

Physical Self-Care

You need to take care of your body if you want it to run efficiently. Keep in mind that there's a strong connection between your body and your mind. When you’re caring for your body, you'll think and feel better too.

Physical self-care includes what you are putting into your body as fuel for energy, how much sleep you're getting, and how much physical activity you are doing. It also means prioritising your body's needs by attending health check-ups, cancer prevention screens such as cervical smears and mammograms, and taking medication as prescribed.

Take a moment to consider what you currently do to contribute to your physical self-care. What would you like to do more of? 

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Social Self-Care

Socialisation is key to self-care. But, often, it's hard to make time for friends, and it's easy to neglect your relationships when life gets busy. Close connections are important to your wellbeing. The best way to cultivate and maintain close relationships is to put time and energy into building your relationships with others.

There isn't a certain number of hours you should devote to your friends or work on your relationships. Everyone has slightly different social needs. The key is to figure out what your social needs are and to build enough time in your schedule to create an optimal social life.

Take a moment and consider how you feel after spending quality time with great friends.

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Mental Self-Care

Mental or emotional health refers to our state of emotional wellbeing. People who have good mental health generally possess a positive outlook and a sense of purpose and control over their lives. This enables them to realise their own abilities, cope with the everyday stresses of life, work productively, and contribute effectively to the community.

Factors that contribute to our mental health and the resilience needed to cope when faced with sad or difficult times include:

• our self‐concept (the way we see ourselves), self‐confidence and self‐esteem (the way we feel about ourselves)
• our sense of connection or belonging to different significant groups such as family, peers, or school
• our ability to appropriately express emotions such as love, anger, and frustration
• our ability to think creatively and be flexible when making decisions and resolving problems
• our capacity to function productively within society without exhibiting personally and socially disruptive behaviour.

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Spiritual Self-Care

Research shows that a lifestyle including religion or spirituality is generally a healthier lifestyle.

Nurturing your spirit, however, doesn't have to involve religion. It can involve anything that helps you develop a deeper sense of meaning, understanding, or connection with the universe. Many people who would say they don't believe in (a) higher power(s), still enjoy meditation for the sense of wellbeing it provides - a sort of spiritual connection to one's own mind. 

Whether you enjoy meditation, attending a religious service, or praying, spiritual self-care is important.

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Living a life with meaning and purpose is key to improving your psychological wellbeing. Your purpose doesn’t necessarily have to involve changing the world or finding a career devoted to helping others though.

Instead, you might make it your purpose to be kind every day, or make the world better by encouraging others to take care of the environment or adopt pets from the shelter. Maybe your purpose is to be an advocate for those who are hurting, like bullied students, the homeless, or victims of abuse.

If you feel like your life lacks purpose, don’t worry — there are many ways you can find purpose in life and build a life that has more meaning. Begin by thinking about the legacy you would like to leave behind.

Take a moment to consider what you would like to be remembered for. What impact would you like to have on the world? 

Ways you can increase your sense of positivity

• Recall positive life events
• Perform Acts of Kindness
• Practice mindfulness
• Express Gratitude

Recall positive life events

Spend time thinking about some of the best memories of your life. Whether it's a family vacation you went on ten years ago or an award you won at work two years ago, recalling the happiest times in your life can bring more positivity to your current mindset.

Recognising the good things that have happened to you over time — the people you have built memories with or the good times that you have experienced — is an important part of improving your wellbeing. Memories serve as reminders of the fullness life has to offer, especially when life feels like it isn't currently fulfilling.

Take a moment and remember — in as much detail as you can — a purely positive memory. Think about the feelings, smells, and colours — breathe it all in. Do you feel a sense of joy? 

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Perform Acts of Kindness

Doing nice things for other people reminds you that you have the power to make a difference in the world. Giving to others also helps you think more positively and feel happier. Helping a neighbour in need, volunteering for a community activity, or raising money for a charity are just a few simple ways to improve your psychological wellbeing. Also, look for ways to be kind to others in your everyday life. Doing so benefits you in a number of ways. In fact, researchers indicate that individual acts of kindness release both endorphins and oxytocin — the feel-good hormones — and is one of the few things that creates new neural connections.

Consequently, kindness can become a self-reinforcing habit that takes less and less effort to perform. There's also some evidence linking kindness and healing. Look for ways to be kind to others and your body and mind will thank you.

The MayoClinic even has this to say about the health benefits of kindness:

Can you think of ways that you can incorporate more kindness in your life? Consider finding small acts to do for others when you are driving, shopping, waiting, walking, etc. 

Take a moment and think about a time when you did something entirely selfless and expected nothing in return. How did it make you feel to give of yourself?

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Practice Mindfulness

In the previous section, we provided information about meditation and the positive effects it has on your spiritual and physical health. A daily practice to spend 10-30 minutes being mindful is a great way to gain these benefits. Remember that being mindful doesn't require anything other than time and attention to what you are doing, but can also be as structured as guided meditation. 

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Express Gratitude

Gratitude turns what we have into enough.

Whether you send messages to people telling them how much you appreciate them, or you write about the things you feel thankful for in a journal, expressing your gratitude will keep you focused on all the good things in life. You can even express gratitude on social media.

Being grateful in everything you do will become a way of life. You'll discover you can be thankful for little things, like the beauty of the sunset and the big things like a new job, a new baby, a qualification earned, or a visit from an old friend. Finding things to be thankful for daily is a simple but effective way to boost your psychological wellbeing.

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YOUR Personal Health and Wellbeing

Reach out, and ask for help when you need it.

Hopefully, you are feeling on top of your game as you are balancing your life and studies. Enrolling in this course is future-minded, and we hope is a source of positivity for you! 

But when you aren't feeling mentally confident, everything feels harder. Asking for help isn't easy, but most of us have people in our lives that we can reach out to — no matter how big or small the problem is. If you feel that you don't have anyone, it may be that you don't recognise that the people around you are happy to help if given the chance. If you really are isolated, try and make connections with your colleagues in your ECE service or centre, or even peers in this course.

As kaiako, it may be you that someone is reaching out to, especially as an ECE student who is working on building relationships and connections. You may wish to pass along the following resources. 

Community support

There are people you can talk to right now.