Wellness is…

As a young teenager I had a favorite comic strip titled “Love is…” It was two cute people who had all the definitions for love. Love is…Google it… you will find some lovely ideas.

As the director of Family Wellness, our nonprofit, 80,000 sq ft wellness center in Fargo, North Dakota, I have often wondered what “Wellness is…” What does it mean to you? Is it exercising every day? Is it choosing vegetables over fried foods? Is it getting 8 hours of sleep at night? Wellness is not nearly as sexy or exciting as Love, but can it be? How do we get excited about our own Wellness? It appears that we become most motivated when something takes Wellness away, like Cancer or Heart Disease, illness or injury. Then we get excited about Wellness and what we can do about it.

I worked for 23 years in Cardiac Rehab. Amazingly, I often heard patients say, “Having a heart attack was the best thing that happened to me.” What! How is that? After nearly losing their life, what they meant was, it helped them to value the body they had and take better care of it. Not for tomorrow or for when they are 90, but for Today. Change what I eat… sure. Relax more… ahh. Move more… you bet!

Today can be a wellness day.

Write me and let me know what “Wellness is …” for you. Jenna.Johnson@sanfordhealth.org

Be well,
Jenna Johnson, Director
Family Wellness LLC
A partnership of Sanford Health and the YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties