Committing to Wellness

How are you feeling? Well, I hope. My name is Madelin and I have the wonderful role of blogging about my pursuit of wellness this academic year. I’m a second year student, constantly looking to embrace every opportunity for wellbeing on campus.

I am trying to be my healthiest me, and I hope my personal accounts will be helpful in your pursuit of your healthiest you. Speaking of which, HealthyU is a four-part framework of student wellness that offers a balanced foundation for a healthy lifestyle. I imagine nutrition, physical activity, mental health and resilience, and personal safety as the four legs of a chair I’m sitting in to study— if one theme is off or lacking, and my chair wobbles, my studies suffer. When all four legs of my chair are sturdy and in balance, I’ve given myself the ideal conditions for productivity, concentration, and achieving my academic and personal goals.

We can tackle the notion that “sitting is the smoking of our generation” with a different analogy in another post. Can I be real for a quick sec and admit that my position as the HealthyU Crew Blogger makes me a bit anxious me because I’d be a hypocrite if I pretended that my chair never is rocky. I am not the authority on health or wellness. My qualifications for this position: I’m a human. Sometimes I buy dark chocolate with the intention of completing a mindful chocolate eating exercise, and eat the entire bar mindlessly.

Sometimes I take the escalator (I mean, the escalator takes me) when I could equally use the stairs. Sometimes I need to be reminded by my friends and family to honour myself in all of my relationships, and to rid myself of toxic ones.

Importantly, I value my wellness, and when I recognize that my habits aren’t working, I seek out other solutions or support. Being back on campus is an opportunity to be reminded of the resources and opportunities to be healthy on our campus. I can finally reinstate my bedtime after a summer filled with odd-working hours, travel to a different country and time zone, and the Orientation Week Leaders’ schedule (which might as well take place in another time zone, am I right?). For me, the very best part of the new school year is making and renewing commitments to myself—a new beginning, and a new opportunity to plan and create new routines:

Two weeks into classes, my routine is beginning to form and I am taking the time to check in with myself: Is this routine sustainable? Are these healthy habits that support my health and wellbeing? Do I want these actions to stick? The commitment that I will make to myself is to be patient in this pursuit of wellness… publicly holding myself accountable to this notion is a good motivator. What commitments can you make to yourself for this academic year? Stay well, Madelin