Wellness has been expanded tremendously. In my life previous to analysing
wellness, I was less aware and mindful of how my body and mind operate and the
injustice I was doing myself was simply from lack of knowledge. I knew how to
take care of myself physically, and I kept a journal, albeit very inconsistently.
However, once I started taking a deeper look at wellness, I was able to further my
comprehension of what steps I can be taking to ensure my wellness needs are
being met. The eight dimensions of wellness have been most influential in
teaching myself about wellness. So many facets of our lives are run by external
forces be it work, school, childcare, family, partnerships, etc… That we tend to
create ourselves around such forces. Wellness and analyzing it through various
lenses has shown me how to better keep myself from being absorbed by the
many facets in my life.
Current discussions about wellness prove that there is more knowledge now than
ever about human wellness. Such discussions being in the forefront are proof
enough for me that wellness trends will shift away from being “trendy” and more
into necessary functions to maintain overall health (mental, physical, social,
financial, etc…). Implications of current discussions on wellness follow a
marketable trend, which in turn is also receiving a fair amount of backlash from
communities who are more dedicated to living a fulfilling life rather than a popular
one. What does this mean for the future? There is a possibility that wellness may
not reach a point in the near future where large corporations are targeting specific
audiences for profit. As long as there are humans, there will be marketing, we all
want to be “better”, it's just how we get there that matters. However, I hold out
that with our progressive culture growing, wellness will reach a point where it is
no longer a profitable facet of our lives but a prominent one.
Personally, the critical analysis skills learned throughout this course will support
me in my own journey not only with wellness, but with any aspect that significantly
impacts my life. I think that going forward I will be more aware and “intune” with
the larger forces at play to allow myself to see the bigger picture. Such as “why
am I seeing these advertisements?” or more importantly, the ones I am not
seeing. Academically, the analytic skills I have developed throughout this course
will aid in any further research, analysis, and reviews I conduct. Having
comprehensive knowledge about how to critically analyze a subject will only
propel my academic journey. Professionally, the critical analytic skills I have
learned throughout this course will serve me tremendously as I pursue my
passion of psychology and mental health counseling, a foundational part of
counseling is the ability to see all sides of a story, and being able to do so with
the facts only stabilizes the thought process more.
