Everyone’s path to wellness is different—there is no one “right” way to enhance your well-being, because we all have unique strengths, weaknesses, and needs. In this two-part series, I’ll talk about my personal path to wellness in six distinct dimensions: physical, emotional, spiritual, spatial, intellectual, and what I call “time wellness.” We’ll begin with my story of emotional, spiritual, and physical growth and healing.
In my late 20s, I chose to leave my marriage and the strict church environment in which we functioned. Although I didn’t quite realize it at the time, that choice was the beginning of my journey to holistic wellness—a commitment to pursuing well-being in all areas of my life, including emotional, spiritual, and physical health.
But back to that first step. This particular church taught that that unless you did things their way, and believed their way, you were doomed to hell. But in my heart, I believed that the universe/God is loving, kind, and accepting of all people. So after getting my son and I settled into our new way of living, we started visiting other churches in the area. I knew I had found my new community when the minister said, “Wherever you are on your journey/path—be you Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, straight, gay—you are welcome here.”
A different mindset
My eyes were opened to teachers, authors, and new ways of thinking, each with a common foundational belief that we are all good at our core, that all religions are founded on goodness and kindness for ourselves and humanity. For me, it was a comfortable transition from the strict religious environment, because I know the Bible well and could see the common threads in what I was reading and learning.
I discovered one of my favorite books during this period: “Living Buddha, Living Christ” by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is not about the Buddha or Christ, but the principles in their teachings—which the book informs us are one in the same.
One of the many things Jesus and Buddha both taught was being present in the moment. This led me to a meditation practice and into the world of yoga (both of which would have been frowned upon by my past church—yes, even today).
My divorce was not a planned event, of course. And part of life is managing and growing through these unplanned emotional upheavals both large and small. Having the knowledge and awareness of what I’ve learned on my spiritual journey, coupled with a mindfulness practice, continues to provide me with the ability to manage through situations and how I respond to them.
Reading recommendations
Here are a few of the books that have helped me emotionally and spiritually. (For more books on all dimensions of wellness, please see this article.)
A Return to Love — Marianne Williamson
This Thing Called You — Ernest Holmes
Around the Year with Emmet Fox — Emmet Fox
Spiritual Economics — Eric Butterworth
A return to physical health
While my divorce had a positive impact on me emotionally and spiritually, physically it was a bit of a different story, at least at first. As a single mom, I had much more to juggle with work and activities and meal planning and everything else, so we began eating out more. This was not how I grew up: When I was young, all my meals were made at home. We ate breakfast and dinner together, and lunches at school consisted of healthy whole foods. Socially, we visited and ate in other people’s homes. Going out to eat was a very rare occasion.
Now, though, we were getting takeout all the time, it seemed. That meant spending more money. It also meant gaining some weight. Something had to change on both fronts.
Surprise diagnosis
Even after beginning to eat most of our meals at home, though, I was struggling to lose the weight I had added. As always, I figured more exercise would do the trick, but extra miles on the treadmill and additional classes at the gym weren’t cutting it. Nothing was working. I decided to visit a naturopath to see if something else was afoot.
That’s when I found out I was prediabetic.
Me? The one who has eaten healthy for the vast majority of her life? The one who exercises all the time?
Yes, me.
I was shocked, but now I was armed with knowledge—and a path forward. After educating me about blood sugar and insulin resistance and a lot of other concepts that were new to me, the naturopath recommended four action items:
Eliminate all high-sugar fruits and vegetables like apples, bananas, carrots, etc. This meant eating lots of berries and mostly green leafy vegetables.
Build muscle through heavy weight training.
Eat at least 100g of protein per day (I was barely at 50g).
Combine protein, carbs, and fats for every meal.
I had already been taking a raw/vegan/vegetarian approach most days, but it was HARD for an island girl to give up fruits (I was eating bananas and apples almost daily). I went cold turkey. I got a trainer at the gym. It took me three weeks to figure out how to get to 100g of protein a day, but I did it.
Getting better
On my next visit to the naturopath, my numbers were in the normal range. She said if I kept it there for a year, my body would heal itself—and when it did, I could start reintroducing my fruits! My numbers took a bit of a roller-coaster ride for years, though, until I found Levels Health and started wearing a continuous glucose monitor. This gave me information at my fingertips in real time as to how my body responded to different foods. A whole new world opened up for me.
The entire experience was eye-opening, and so was sharing it with family and friends. I learned that several people on my mother’s side of the family—including my mother—were either prediabetic or had Type 2 diabetes. Nobody had ever talked about it, and I had never even through to ask about my family’s medical history.
Now that I knew, and now that they knew I had taken steps to reverse my diagnosis, they reached out for support and coaching. It was a huge step on my journey, one that is perhaps the biggest contributor to who and where I am today.
Reading recommendations
There are a LOT of books out there on diet and physical wellness—these are some of the ones that resonated with me. (For more books on all dimensions of wellness, please see this article.)
The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally — Dr. Jason Fung
Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine — Robert Lustig
The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World — Mark Hyman
Body Love: Live in Balance, Weigh What You Want, and Free Yourself from Food Drama Forever — Kelly LeVeque
Click here to read Part 2, which will talk about the remainder of my journey (so far), with discussion about intellectual wellness, organizing, and time management. See you soon!