What is a Healthy, Happy Life?
My name is Matt. I’m a nurse on a journey to build a healthy, happy life for myself and my family, and on a mission to bring as many nurses with me as possible.
What is a Healthy, Happy Life?
The exact definition of what makes up a healthy, happy life is going to vary from person to person. For me, a major part of this was making sure that I was always available to attend and participate in my children’s activities. For others, it may include a strenuous workout regimen to obtain and maintain optimal physical health. Regardless of what that looks like for you, I believe there are six pillars that work together to build a healthy, happy life.
Knowing You
This is the foundation upon which the 6 pillars are built on.See the graphic to the left for a visual on that shows this. How can you even begin to build a healthy, happy life until you know yourself.
There are several parts to this foundation:
There are several parts to this foundation:
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Knowing your why
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Knowing who you are
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Knowing what matters most to you
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Knowing who you want to be
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Knowing where you’re starting
This is the foundation. It’s also the first step towards building the healthy, happy life you deserve.
Work Health
Work/life balance is something many of us strive for. I would argue, however, that this is a myth. Not that we can’t strive for some balance in this. Rather, I just don’t believe that work/life balance looks like what most of us think it does. I’ll explain what I mean in a future post. In the meantime, a good friend of mine wrote a book about this exact topic,The Myth of Balance. Check it out.
Physical Health
This one is a no-brainer. For some, this means an intense routine of exercise and careful adherence to a nutritional plan. For others, it is something that we completely ignore. Like most Americans, the average nurse is overweight and maybe even clinically obese. We all know that we need to take better care of our physical health, but most of us simply don’t do it.
Mental Health
For many nurses, we are as bad about mental health as we are about physical health. Some of us are even worse. We readily acknowledge the need for mental health, yet do almost nothing about it. We cover it up with booze or food or other distractions, but seldom actually address it. We have among the most stressful jobs on the planet, yet we try to just shrug it off as if it doesn’t affect us. It does.
Spiritual Health
Many people are going to read this one and immediately think of religion. While that can certainly be part of it, it’s more than that. When surveyed most Americans said they considered themselves to be spiritual, even if they claimed no religious affiliation. For me, as a Christian, spiritual health means something specific. However, you don’t have to be a Christian for this one to matter.
Relational Health
I’ve seen way too many nurses whose families were absolutely falling apart. I’m certainly not putting all the blame on the nurse. Relational health can affect everything else on this list. This is about your spouse or partner. This is about your children. This is about friends outside of your marriage.
Financial Health
Many nurses work overtime nearly every week. I’m not against overtime, but it should be something used sparingly and only when YOU have a specific financial goal you are working towards. Sadly, many of us have built lives that require us to work extra just to stay afloat. Huge piles of debt, poor planning, and failure to save will spill over into so many other areas of your life. Financial health is not one we talk about often, but it is of extreme importance.
Healthy, Happy Life
All of these things add up to build the healthy, happy life you deserve. I know that looking at this full list can seem overwhelming. That’s ok. In each of these pillars, your past habits have worked to get you where you are right now. Sure, there are things that happen in our lives that make some of this more difficult. Still, it is the things we do day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year that get us where we are. Likewise, it is the habits we build in each of these areas that are going to get you moving toward the healthy, happy life you want and deserve.
What Now?
The best place to start is by downloading the Healthy, Happy Life Assessment below. This will help you establish where you are in each of these 6 pillars and give you a starting point.
If you have any questions or need any help, please email me.
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