It’s August, which means it’s National Wellness Month.
You may be wondering, well, that sounds great, but what does “National Wellness Month” even mean, and does this mean I have to start exercising or eating more veggies or what?
Spend five minutes online, and you will be overwhelmed by the word “wellness.” Is it having a colour-coded planner? The perfectly balanced organic smoothie every morning? It’s not an expensive supplement, is it? Maybe it’s the meditation app or the yoga retreat, or becoming the “best version” of yourself.
All of the parts of wellness are valuable. Many of them support good health, but they can also leave us with the impression that wellness is something we achieve if we just have enough discipline. Real wellness is about creating a life that is healthy from the inside out, and that means starting with your mental health.
The World Health Organisation defines mental health as the state of wellbeing that helps people “cope with life’s stressors, realise their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community.”
Notice what is missing from that definition.
Constant happiness, never feeling sad or anxious, or having your life all together.
Mental wellness is about learning how to move through life in all its stressors without losing yourself in the process.
We’re here to help.
Contact us today for a no-obligation conversation with one of our professionals.
Wellness is much more than physical health
For a long time, wellness was almost synonymous with physical health.
We talked about eating well and what that means (and nutrition guidelines have changed over the years). We talked about exercising regularly and what that looks like. How much is enough? Is there such a thing as too much? We also talked about the importance of sleep, and that 7-9 hours is the global guideline, and if you don’t get at least seven hours each night, well, you better try harder.
Our bodies and minds are connected, and it’s impossible to separate one from the other. Anyone who has lived through chronic stress already knows this. Stress makes it hard to sleep, anxiety affects digestion, and depression can change appetite and influence energy levels. Being emotionally exhausted can leave you physically drained before the day has even begun.
Wellness isn’t divided into tidy categories. Every part of our health influences the other parts. That’s why today’s conversations about wellness have expanded beyond diet and exercise. Most healthcare professionals recognise that emotional, social, and even spiritual wellbeing factor into overall wellness.
You can probably relate. Think about the seasons of your own life. Have there been times when you were physically healthy but emotionally depleted?
Maybe your work consumed every waking hour, or maybe you were caring for an ageing parent or supporting a struggling child.
The opposite can be true, too. During difficult seasons of life, supportive relationships, meaningful work, faith, strong purpose, or a sense of community can be what helps us keep moving forward.
Mental wellness doesn’t mean feeling happy all the time
One of the biggest misconceptions about mental wellness is that emotionally healthy people are happy most of the time. Some may be, but others may not be.
Those with good mental health still experience the same ups and downs of life as everyone else. They will grieve after losing someone they love. They will become frustrated, anxious, or discouraged.
The difference is that they have tools to cope with life’s stressors. They know when to ask for help. They recognise when stress is becoming too much. They have people to talk to. They let themselves rest without guilt.
In many ways, mental wellness is less about feeling good and more about being emotionally flexible. When you think about life, one thing that is certain is that there are changes. Relationships change, careers change, health changes. None of us gets through life without changes, and those changes can cause disappointment and uncertainty,
Resilience is learning that hard emotions can be felt without letting them define who we are.
That perspective is especially important for people recovering from addiction or managing mental health challenges. Healing is never linear. You will struggle through it. But it means you gradually develop healthier ways of responding when you do.
Wellness looks different for everyone
One of the quickest ways to lose sight of your own wellness is to compare it to someone else’s.
We see a friend training for a marathon, a coworker who seems to have endless energy, or someone we don’t even know online who appears to have mastered the perfect work-life balance. How exhausting it is when we compare.
The truth: we are only seeing a small part of someone’s story, and who knows? Maybe what we are perceiving isn’t even entirely accurate.
Wellness isn’t measured by one thing. It’s not measured by how early you wake up or how many kilometers you run before dawn. It isn’t something that looks the same from one person to the next because no two lives are the same.
For someone recovering from addiction, wellness means reaching another day of sobriety. For someone with chronic anxiety, wellness may be attending a social event that they normally would avoid. A busy parent may see wellness in finally asking for help instead of trying to carry everything alone.
All of these victories represent meaningful progress.
Our needs also change throughout life. During one stage of life, wellness may look like finding new sources of purpose. During another, it may be slowing down. Rather than asking whether your wellness looks like someone else’s, a better question is this:
Do my habits support my mental, emotional, and physical health at this point in my life?
The answer won’t always be the same, and that’s the point. Wellness is about learning to care for yourself in ways that are realistic and sustainable for the life that you’re actually living right now.
Wellness isn’t a performance
It’s so easy to confuse looking well with actually being well.
Social media complicates this, of course, since it has made wellness performative. Just scroll through your social media feeds, and you will see images of beautifully prepared meals, spotless kitchens, marathon medals, gratitude journals, and even carefully organised morning routines “to get the day started right.”
Sure, some of these moments may be genuine, but they are still only snapshots. Think about what rarely makes it onto social media:
- Panic attacks that happen at work
- The counselling appointment that required enormous courage
- The lonely evening when someone chose not to drink
- That difficult conversation that finally established a healthy boundary
Most of the most meaningful wellness work happens behind the scenes. Think about the moments where someone chooses to sit with uncomfortable feelings instead of escaping them through drugs or alcohol. Or someone taking medication exactly as prescribed after months of resisting the idea. Or the relationship that someone walked away from because it was too mentally and emotionally damaging.
None of these moments is particularly photogenic, but all of them are acts of wellness.
What are the small habits that matter the most?
When people decide to focus on their wellness, they often feel overwhelmed, like they need to overhaul their entire lives. They make ambitious plans, buy new planners, commit to daily workouts, swear off sugar, and promise themselves they will stick to the changes.
Then life happens, as it always does, and the routine falls apart, and they conclude they have failed.
Mental wellness shouldn’t be built through dramatic promises. It’s more sustainable when it’s shaped by small but consistent choices that naturally become part of everyday life.
This may mean taking a short walk after dinner instead of lying on the couch scrolling your phone for an hour. It could also mean making time for a conversation with someone you trust rather than keeping emotions bottled up. It could mean setting boundaries at work, eating regular meals, spending a few minutes in quiet prayer or reflection, or simply allowing yourself to rest without feeling guilty.
These are ordinary habits with big effects that add up over time.
Research consistently shows that regular exercise can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Additionally, spending time outside has been linked to lower stress and better mood (Hossain et al., 2024). Healthy sleep habits lead to better mental health (Scott, et al., 2021). So do meaningful relationships.
These are things we likely already know, and none of these habits by themselves are a cure-all. But together, they can create a foundation that helps us become more resilient.
When wellness means getting professional help
Sometimes healthy habits alone aren’t enough.
You can exercise regularly, eat nutritious meals, spend time outdoors, have plenty of meaningful connections, and still feel overwhelmed with depression, anxiety, trauma, or addiction.
This doesn’t mean you have a lack of willpower!
These are health conditions that deserve appropriate care.
Unfortunately, many people delay seeking professional help because they believe they should be able to manage everything on their own. Asking for help is one of the healthiest decisions you can make.
A mental health professional can help you understand what you’re going through. They are experts at identifying underlying patterns and developing strategies that are just for you. Depending on the situation, treatment may include individual therapy, support groups, medication, lifestyle changes, or a combination of these approaches.
For those living with substance use disorders, professional treatment can also help address emotional pain, trauma, and mental health issues that often exist alongside addiction.
There is no shame in needing support. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: asking for help is where healing truly begins.
National Wellness Month is a great place to start
National Wellness Month is your invitation to pay attention. Notice how you’re really doing instead of how you think you should be doing.
Ask yourself if you’re caring for your mental health with the same intention that you care for your physical health. It’s about learning to care for yourself with honesty and compassion.
Some days may look like movement and laughter, while other days will look like rest or simply getting through the day one hour at a time. Both count.
At Centres for Health & Healing, we believe that mental wellness is built through small choices and meaningful support. Whether you’re going through depression, anxiety, addiction, or simply feeling overwhelmed, you are not alone.
Reach out to us to see how we can help. We are here for you.
References:
- Hossain, M. N., Lee, J., Choi, H., Kwak, Y. S., & Kim, J. (2024). The impact of exercise on depression: how moving makes your brain and body feel better. Physical activity and nutrition, 28(2), 43–51.
- Scott, A. J., Webb, T. L., Martyn-St James, M., Rowse, G., & Weich, S. (2021). Improving sleep quality leads to better mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Sleep medicine reviews, 60, 101556.
- Mayo Clinic. (2025, February 01). How many hours of sleep are enough for good health?.
- World Health Organization. (2025, October 8). Mental health.