The Choice of Well-Being

On a recent monthly call with Well-Being Coaches, where we support each other in our celebrations and challenges, Tina, a nurse manager shared how overwhelmed and exhausted she felt. With short-staffing and numerous projects, she was working a lot and still not feeling good about anything, especially herself. She said she couldn’t even sit in church for an hour without responding to a call or text from her team.

The solution to this may seem simple, but when you are deep in overwhelm, nothing is simple or easy, in fact everything feels hard and even impossible. Your well-being, how you feel about yourself, is determined by your choices and it starts with just one. Well-being requires the daily practice of prioritizing yourself when you feel good, and especially when you don’t.

After Tina spoke out loud how she was feeling, she recognized her first choice was to create a boundary during church. This empowered her to honor her sacred time and empowered her staff to problem-solve for themselves or find another resource. The following Sunday, she left her phone in her car and reported how wonderful it felt not to be distracted and how it helped her initiate other changes as well.

These examples of choices may seem insignificant, but they support you in your well-being.

1. The Choice of Compassion

Be kind to yourself by getting your basic needs met when you eat lunch, ask for help, or put your phone down.

2. The Choice of Presence

Slow down to ground yourself by practicing deep breathing, letting go, or tapping before you start your day, a meeting or a project.

3. The Choice of Recovery

Fill yourself up with something that recharges you by going to bed earlier, taking a walk outside, or digging your hands in the dirt.

Well-Being is not one decision or goal, but a series of choices that support you to show up every day to be your best self. It requires steadfast intention, practice, and commitment because even when you already know what to do, you have to choose to do it—for yourself. The choice is that simple and that hard.