Developing a healthy routine of regular physical activity and eating nutritious foods are great ways to start improving your overall health. But true holistic wellness encompasses much more than just your diet and exercise. To achieve true holistic wellness from your head to your toes, it’s important to focus on the other areas of your health that aren’t as obvious. 

One way that you can do that is by using the 8 pillars of wellness as a framework for improving the elements of your health that you can’t see in the mirror. The 8 pillars of wellness are categories of wellness that include: physical, nutritional, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, financial, and environmental. 

By improving all of the 8 pillars of wellness, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a healthier and happier person. We dive into a few of the less obvious pillars of wellness and how you can start improving them today. 

Emotional Wellness

Emotional wellness is about how you navigate through your feelings and emotions, as well as how you communicate them with others. We’re all likely to go through tough times, but knowing yourself and your emotions will help you control your feelings and have a deeper understanding of yourself. 

To help you build this pillar, try journaling. Journaling can be very beneficial in letting you write down the running thoughts in your head and work through tough emotions that you may not feel comfortable sharing with others.

Intellectual Wellness

Intellectual wellness is about developing a desire to continue learning and opening yourself up to new ideas and experiences. This helps to expand your worldview and become more understanding of the world around us. 

Try reading up on topics and news items that interest you and talking about them with your friends and family. Talking about a new idea will likely spark your friend or family member to share learning experiences of their own that can help you share knowledge and get to know one another better.

Environmental Wellness

Environmental wellness deals with your immediate surroundings and the community where you live and work. This involves respecting the environment you live in by doing your best to support it however you can. This might include recycling or volunteering to clean up a city park that you frequent. 

One way that you can build this pillar is by making your commute more eco-friendly. A few tips include: riding your bike when you can, purchasing a hybrid car or opting for public transit. 

To learn more about the 8 pillars of wellness, Auraglow has created this helpful guide below that details each of the pillars and offers actionable tips for building up the pillars of wellness in your life.