Wellness is much more than merely the absence of disease or illness. Wellness is a multidimensional or holistic approach to living. Wellness includes much more than just physical health. It also includes the emotional, intellectual, social, occupational and spiritual aspects of living. Because wellness involves a "whole person" perspective, it follows that a lack of health or well being in one area of a person's life affects other aspects of the person's life and overall sense of well being. The Wellness Concept is really a frame of reference from which to think about choices and behaviors and how they contribute to one's overall positive growth and development. Achieving wellness is a dynamic process in which you are responsible for and in charge of your life and well being. It involves a process of moving toward optional health. Wellness represents a higher degree of "health" than merely the absence of illness. It is the process of making proactive choices and engaging in behaviors which allows one to achieve a balance in one's life regarding one's physical, emotional, social, occupational, intellectual and spiritual needs.
Moving toward a state of optimal health or wellness is achieved by making positive changes in lifestyle. It is not a static process but one in which the individual makes conscious, informed choices, takes action, moves and grows - an approach which returns the concept of "health" to its root meaning, that of wholeness and balance, and puts the power and responsibility in the hands of the individual, not the health-care system. Each of us can improve our state of wellness by becoming aware and knowledgeable, developing positive lifestyle patterns, which include being actively involved in and committed to our own physical, intellectual, emotional, social, occupational and spiritual growth and development. It is never too late to start.