Guest Post: How I Recovered Using the Principles of the Wellness Wheel {Part 2}

If you missed Part 1 of RecoverReflect's guest post, click here to catch up!

In order to maintain a healthy balance in my overall wellness, I take time to do things I enjoy:

1.     Craft. I love crafting, scrapbooking, drawing, and painting. Being creative is a great outlet for me.

2.     Hot bath. I love taking a hot bubble bath and just soaking. It is a time that I permit myself to stop thinking completely about any stress I am under.

3.     Stay in touch. Isolation is a huge trigger for slip ups for me, so I actively take time to maintain relationships I have with friends and family.

4.     Exercise. Now that I can exercise in moderation, this is a huge factor in my ability to care for myself physically and mentally. Exercise clears my mind, kicks up my endorphins, and keeps me feeling healthy and making healthy choices for myself.

5.     Playlists. I make new playlists all the time to boost my mood. I also love singing at the top of my lungs on my drives to and from work, so they come in handy then, too.

Sense of worth. Before recovery, I felt the only way to stand out and be worthy was to starve myself/be sick. And, even through recovery, I struggled with feeling worthy of recovery. I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere without my eating disorder “identity.” However, again, through definition of my spirituality, I was able to develop a sense of worth.

·      My optimism for myself, others, and the world in general gave me the desire to help others improve their lives.

·      My belief in a higher power gave me the belief that I am here for a reason.

·      My tolerance and acceptance for those different than myself helped me see that everyone serves a purpose in this world.

·      My appreciation for the simple pleasures in life gave me a sense of grounding and gratefulness.

·      My purpose in life: I truly believe (and have believed since I was in the midst of my eating disorder) that I went through my eating disorder so I can effectively help others who are suffering (hence my career choice as a psychologist). Having a purpose in life gave me a reason to live. It gave me a reason to heal, a sense of identity, and something to strive for. By choosing to help others recover, I feel purposeful, worthy, and powerful.

While there are many subtasks that I have already explored greatly within myself in order to achieve wellness, learning about the Wellness Wheel through Musings of a Counselor’s posts has helped me greatly. I have identified areas of my wellness that I have ignored and have chosen to start working on them. For example, I have not put much thought or paid much attention to Gender Identity, Cultural Identity, or Sense of Humor. However, I now realize how important these dimensions are in overall wellness, and I am excited to continue my pursuit of health, happiness, and recovery with the help of the Wellness Wheel.

Thanks so much for you awesome two part guest post! I hope that you'll go over and check out Recovery Reflections blog!