Wellness Wednesday: {Sense of Control}

Welcome back to Wellness Wednesday! If you haven't read the rest of the series, you can catch up on the posts here:
Wellness Wednesday: {An Introduction}
Wellness Wednesday: {An Introduction pt. 2}
Wellness Wednesday: {The Wheel of Wellness Part 1}
Wellness Wednesday: {The Wheel of Wellness Part 2}
Wellness Wednesday: {Life Task 1: Spirituality}
Wellness Wednesday: {Life Task 2: Self Direction} 
Wellness Wednesday: {Sense of Worth}

For those of you who have read some of the posts, you might recall that I'm using the idea of the Wheel of Wellness to visually represent wellness for the individual.

Source

Last week I introduced the first subtask under "self direction": Sense of Worth. Today I'll talk about the 2nd spoke of the wheel, sense of control.

Myers & Sweeney define "Sense of Control" the following way:

Beliefs about mastery, competence, self-confidence, locus of control, self-efficacy, presentation of oneself as having influence through exercise of imagination, knowledge, skill, and choice; sense of planfulness in life; ability to be direct in expressing one’s needs (assertiveness)

Sense of control is an interesting component of wellness, as I think this is generally looked over when thinking about the idea of wellness. I think that boundaries play a big part in the idea of sense of control. Remember that with healthy boundaries, we realize that we can only control our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. No one else can control these things in us unless we choose to give up our control. When we understand what we have control of in life, we become a healthier individual. If you'd like to know more about establishing and growing healthy boundaries in your life, you can click here. 

The term "locus of control" may be unfamiliar to some of you. An individual either has an internal or external locus of control. With an External Locus of Control, an individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by fate, luck, or other external circumstances With an Internal Locus of Control, the individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by his/her personal decisions and efforts. Those with an internal locus of control tend to be healthier, less stressed, and achieve more in life then those with an external locus of control. 

How many of you know what you need in life, but don't tell others around you that you need it? It's easy to feel frustrated or angry at those people for not giving what you need, but can they be blamed if you choose to not tell them? A sense of control in life also includes a willingness to speak out when you need something in life, and allow yourself to be heard! 

I love that a sense of planfulness is a component of health in life. I think in the healthy living world, we talk about setting goals to help you meet your desired outcomes. Setting goals is a crucial part of successful behavior change and health. Unless we know what we're aiming for, we won't know how to get where we want to be. If you'd like to know more about setting goals for successful behavior change, you can click here. 

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Do I have healthy boundaries? Do I take responsibility for my own thoughts, feelings, and actions? Do I blame others for the things I'm responsible for in life?
2. Do I have an internal or external locus of control in life? What can I do to move to a more internal locus of control?
3. What are my needs in life? Do I let others around me know what my needs are?
4. Do I have a sense of planfulness in my life? Do I write goals for my life?
5. What activities am I competent in? How do these play out in my life?

Throughout this series so far, what are you realizing about wellness in your life? Do you think healthy boundaries are hard to establish?