We all know well that wellness is a term that’s thrown around a lot right now. We hear about corporate wellness, personal wellness, and on and on. But at the end of what the heck is wellness? The easy answer is whatever the numbers tell you. Your cholesterol numbers, BMI, body fat, etc. But I would suggest there is something more, something that the data can’t really give us. I’ll explain more below.

Little data wellness.

In the world of big data and running the numbers it’s easy to get lost in what this means for wellness. If you have great data numbers from your doctor but can’t play with your kids, go on a hike, carry something heavy around the house are you really well? If you are physically challenged by the simple things in life are you experiences true wellness? I would say, heck no you aren’t! You may qualify by some of the numbers for wellness but I think the little data would suggest you’re not experiencing full wellness. Wellness has to have a quality of life component. I don’t think anyone would argue this point. This problem is qualifying and quantifying it. And I think it would be a waste of time anyways. This is where little data comes in. Little data is not data gathered by numbers and metrics, it’s data gathered by interactions and experiences. If you have a lot of little data that shows you’re having a great quality of life, along side the big data of healthcare norms, then you’re probably living in real wellness. And that little data is no less important than the big data. Wellness is not wellness without the little data of quality of life.

Why is it so difficult?

It’s so hard simply because it takes time and it takes discipline. It’s not convenient, it’s not easy and it’s not always fun…but it’s worth it. Wellness involves a life of activity and purposeful eating that will look a little different for everyone. And it’s something that our core education system in the US completely fails to prepare us for. And advertising mascara’s itself around as science and solutions. Bottom line is each of us will need to invest our own time and money to educate ourselves on what training and nutrition look like for each of us. We are all different. We have different interests, different genetics, different schedules and different goals. The commonality we all share is that we will have to work hard and make good choices to achieve true wellness.

What does wellness take?

A lot! If you knew how much it would take before you started on your journey you would think you don’t have what it takes. And honestly you’d probably be right. There are very few people in this world that can walk the path to wellness alone. This is why community is so powerful. I used to own two CrossFit affiliates and our tag line was “powered by community.” We chose this because it was core to our clients have any measure of sustainable success. When other people care about your wellness just as much as you do, and you return that favor, magic happens. Wellness takes hard work and community.

This week’s blog was written by Josh Elmore.