Environmental Wellness
Environmental wellness has two distinct components that impact our overall health. The first is the natural environment—the air, water, and land in which all living things reside, including humans. The second is the micro-environment or the immediate space that surrounds you and me. This is our personal environment. Both environments are important for exceptional wellness; however, this blog will focus primarily on the second aspect.
Our micro-environments can make us either healthy or unhealthy. Take, for example, my life when I was living and working in Rome, Georgia. I had an amazing job and lived in a house that was bigger than what was needed, with all the benefits a person could ask for. There was room to garden and reading nooks in which to relax. It was clean, we had great neighbors, my kids were in great schools, and there was little-to-no crime. We were what my kids would call, #privileged.
One evening though I took an employee back to their house after work. I found out that they lived in a far less affluent part of town with a high crime rate. Houses around theirs were falling down and there was mold growing up the walls. I was shocked. We were living in two different worlds and only 15 minutes apart.
This socioeconomic divide exists all across the United States and around the world. Many of the causes are too complicated for me to understand and frequently outside of my control; albeit I try as often as possible to make even a small difference.
However, there is part of this environment that is directly within my control: it is the six feet around me, my mental state, what I am reading, and the information I am consuming.
In this environment, I have total control over whether it is neat and well-organized or disheveled. Am I listening to information that is true, good, and useful? Am I taking time to relax and breathe daily? Macro environments are harder to command so we must lean into what we can influence.
The employee I took home that day had control of keeping a job, but not so much where they lived. That was all they could afford. They had control over the neatness within the four walls of their house even if the environment outside the home was less than inviting.
Every day, at any given moment, we all have the power to control our micro-environments. We can choose who and what to let in. When I take control of my environment and ensure that it is as healthy as possible, I am healthier.
Take it from someone who has not always lived in a healthy mental environment, who has let much pollution into his world; controlling one’s own micro-environment is as important as any of the other wellness constructs.
“Think of three things within your micro-environment today that you could change that would improve your overall wellness. ”
