#11 12 Elements of Wellness: Mental vs Physical Wellness

12 Elements of wellness, mental vs physical

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[00:00:23] Natalie: I was listening to a podcast, it's called Slowpreneur, and I'll put it in the show notes. And you know, one of the things that Stephanie, who's the podcast host was talking about is just this idea that, you know, you're creating this podcast and it's nice, but it's kind of going out there into the stratosphere.

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[00:01:08] Natalie: I learn new things every day, and people who teach me things may not be wellness educators or wellness coaches. And a lot of times we think that you have to have a credential or you have to have a certain designation to be qualified to teach something. But honestly, the best teacher is experience. So anyways.

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[00:01:49] Natalie: It's time for the take action segment, celebrating friends, clients, and podcast listeners who are able to take action and move the needle forward. And today I want to shout out myself. Yes, your girl, Natalie, and let me tell you why. So I have to shout out my friend Saia, because without her help, this whole two minutes spiel that I'm about to do would not have been possible.

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[00:02:40] Natalie: And do I post things? Not really, but I wanna get better because at the end of the day, I understand that as a business owner and just more importantly, someone who wants to share wellness and personal development and empowerment tips with the world, I understand that I need to be more visible so I can get my message heard.

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[00:03:23] Natalie: I don't know why it takes me 30 minutes, but you know, it does, and a lot of things, technology-wise just don't seem to cooperate. And I don't really understand why the struggle is so real, but. Still, we move forward. So anyways, I remember I messaged my friend Saia and I said, Saia, I just need help to do these videos.

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[00:04:00] Natalie: So you can go and listen to that, but, The point is, I have three TikTok videos up as of now and a reel, and you know, they'll develop over time and they'll get better and whatever. But I'm proud of what I put out because the point is I put out something and you just have to get started for anybody who might be in that same boat, you just wanna start a channel or start an account, and you don't know if you're gonna get any followers.

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[00:04:53] Natalie: And if you've taken action, please submit email. Or if you're listening on Spotify, you can just hit reply on this episode and let me know so that I can celebrate you. So today we're talking about the 12 elements of wellness and then mental wellness versus. Physical wellness, and this is a topic I've really want to talk about pretty much since the beginning, and maybe I should have put it earlier, but I mean, I'm still pretty early on, so it's okay.

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[00:05:47] Natalie: So before I even get started, I will give you a story, two stories. So one, I remember thinking, you know, I'm really passionate about wellness. I'm really passionate about, Becoming aware of one's own self and doing things to support your own wellbeing journey that are in alignment with your goals and values and the vision you have for your life.

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[00:06:36] Natalie: Ditching the grind, ditching the busy, ditching the overwhelm, ditching, stress ditching. , Disconnection from self. I just feel like a lot of us are walking around almost as zombies. We're just like programmed machines because society has made it that we are one way and people are not resisting. And I just think that we need to be like the resistance.

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[00:07:21] Natalie: And I wanted to help people more and more formally. So I was looking for what certifications could I do. I knew I wanted to go to some, take some kind of program or course, and I eventually ended up doing a wellness coaching certification. But, As I was looking at all the programs, so many of the programs were looking, were almost like a wellness slash health coach.

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[00:08:04] Natalie: What, what I was sharing was more about the mental awareness. The mindset, the empowerment, helping people realize they don't need permission to do certain things, that they can do it, and then some people just giving them the permission, giving them that support to go do the things that they wanna do, to take the action, to move the needle forward.

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[00:08:49] Natalie: My other story is, you know, I was just supposed to do a speaking engagement the other day. And it actually got canceled. And this happened for two different reason. Reasons. One is an internal reason, but then the other was I was looking at the flyer that they created for my workshop, and the flyer had a person doing yoga on it.

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[00:09:36] Natalie: And you know, it's just not my cup of tea. So for me to have a flyer that has yoga on it is just very off brand for me as an individual and very off brand for me. In terms of my contribution to wellness, because again, I am focused on mental wellness and so it was these two things that showed me there is a lot of conflict.

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[00:10:23] Natalie: But this is just completely not at all what I think about when I think about mental wellness. And I'm not saying it's not related. It is related. So anyways, maybe I'll just get into talking about the 12 elements of wellness and I wanna state that. These 12 elements are not necessarily concrete. This is what I was taught through the program that I took, and this is what makes sense to me and aligns with my thinking.

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[00:11:13] Natalie: So we have the 12 elements of wellness, and the first circle is an inner circle. And these are things which are more physically related, and this is food, body, air, water, rest, and sign. And then you have the outer layer, and this is spirituality, finances, career, mindset, purpose, and relationships. And I'm going to link a picture of this wheel and you can even take a picture of it.

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[00:12:06] Natalie: So, for example, let's just say you are feeling tired. You just notice every day you're tired and you're not getting enough sleep. So this impacts the element of rest. But the reason why you're tired is because you're working three jobs. And so this now affects the element of careers. But the reason why you're working three jobs is because none of the jobs are paying you enough for you to live your desired lifestyle.

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[00:13:03] Natalie: You feel lonely, you feel unsupported. You feel like you are not connected to anyone. So now this is impacting your mindset. So I can't remember how many I just gave, but I think that was about five different elements. And you can see how they're all connected to each other. And so one of the big issues when we think about.

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[00:13:49] Natalie: What have you eaten recently? What's changed in your life recently? And they're really looking for one specific answer that might explain why you're having these stomach issues. And I'm sure a lot of us have been to the doctors and have gone back several times because it's really difficult to get to the root issue or the root cause.

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[00:14:41] Natalie: Now, if you work with a naturopath or a health coach, it's different, right? Their whole structure is different and it's meant to dig. Deep to really figure out what are the issues, what are the underlying issues that causing the challenges that you're facing? And then their job is to not just treat the one issue, , for instance, systemic, hurting.

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[00:15:32] Natalie: And it might be showing up in our bodies. And I actually learned in my program that a lot of people are sent to wellness coaches by their doctors because. After a while, all of the stresses of life end up showing up in people's health. And so now they have health problems, but their health problems kind of pass what a doctor would do because they need more support to work through them because now they need to change the lifestyle.

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[00:16:26] Natalie: We'll probably have to do another episode on this, but just off the top of my head, I think that everyone should have a family doctor, but you also need a therapist. You also need some kind of coach. It could, you might be a financial coach, you might be a business coach, it might be a relationship coach.

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[00:17:02] Natalie: Areas of your life. So if you can have different people who are caring for different areas of your life and are able to support you in different areas of your life, this helps you with your holistic wellness and your holistic wellbeing. So just something to think about. When I think about mental wellness, I'm really thinking about that outer layer.

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[00:17:55] Natalie: And it's about maintaining a healthy mindset, managing our emotions, and fostering positive mental health. And the same way we take care of our physical health. And there's so much, , Attention given to exercise and eating well in our nutrition and supplements. We also need to take care of our mental wellness and think about our thoughts.

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[00:18:42] Natalie: And a perfectly balanced life is really just not possible because there are too many moving parts in our lives, and our lives are impacted always by external factors such as other people such as society. So we're just not in a bubble. And you might be moving forward in one area of your life, such as finances, and maybe you feel like that's a really strong area for you, but then you're regressing in another area, maybe such as rest.

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[00:19:31] Natalie: Where are you feeling out of balance? Where are areas that you're happy with and where are areas that you feel like you need to work on? And this information, using this tracker is what helps you figure out where do you need to take your own personal wellness journey. And so, you know, if we find areas in your life that do feel off balanced or.

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[00:20:14] Natalie: So try to see if you can connect the dots. Sometimes this is a little hard to do on your own, and so you can always talk with a friend. You can talk with a therapist, you can talk with a coach, , because sometimes you need to talk it out. And as you're saying it out loud, the awareness comes and you start to connect your dot.

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[00:21:00] Natalie: So it's not just about the physical, it's not just about the mental, it's not just about the emotional, it's not just about the spiritual. It's looking at how all aspects come together and really impact one's overall wellbeing for a lot of people, I know that, uh, while this is sometimes seen as a barrier because of money, And this one really bugs me because I truly don't think that mental wellness needs to cost you a penny.

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[00:22:00] Natalie: And that is just simply not true. Nature is right there for all of us to enjoy. We can enjoy free air, free trees, free water, and nature grounds us and brings such a healing presence that can assist us in our wellness journeys. There are healthy foods that you can buy that don't have to be organic because organic is a whole different topic that I won't get into, but we can think about how consumerism and capitalism, and marketing and power relations are really impacting.

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[00:22:49] Natalie: There is no requirement that says wellness requires you buying products because wellness is about a state of mind. It's about a state of being. So you can have. All the products in the world from all these great brands, they could be organic, they could be five star, they could be fair trade, they could be whatever you want them to be.

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[00:23:35] Natalie: And I get that because I didn't really know what it was either. And the great thing about a wellness journey is it's what it is for you. It's about your own growth and development that supports your overall wellbeing. So really wellness is for every single person, regardless of age, fitness level. Um, Background career, it doesn't matter.

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[00:24:21] Natalie: I personally have zero interest in eating perfectly healthy at all times. Why? Because I love food and I love my belly entirely too much, and I want to eat things that bring me joy without restrictions or checking labels or ingredients all the time. But can I eat with a conscious mind and try to include certain food groups and you balanced in supplements, et cetera, et cetera?

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[00:25:16] Natalie: But don't feel pressured. Do it because you want to, because you think it's best for you, because it feels good for you, because it aligns with the vision you have for yourself. But don't do it because you saw people doing it on social media and they made you feel like you should do that or that you had to do that.

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[00:25:45] Natalie: Your version of wellness does not need to look like Tik Tok's or Instagram's. Make choices that are in alignment with your goals and values. Do what feels good for you and moves you close to the vision you have for your life.

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[00:26:05] Natalie: This entire podcast is about into wellness, empowerment, personal development, self-help, all that kind of jazz. And I really want you to think outside the box. There are no parameters really. And I've talked about some strategies before of how you can focus on your wellness, but there are always more.

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[00:26:40] Natalie: It helps you prioritize your wellbeing and embrace a journey of self-discovery, self-care and empowerment, and it allows you to take charge of your mental health and create a lifestyle that nourishes your mind, bond, and soul. This is not a run-of-the-mill course. It's a one-to-one coaching program where we focus on your specific situation and your needs, and we work through particular challenges and customize a wellness plan that works for you.

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[00:27:23] Natalie: There are some other things you can do. Number one, always, always, always is starting with self-awareness. Self-awareness is the foundation of building your resilience and your emotional intelligence. So you need to take time to really understand your emotions, your triggers, the way you act. What impacts your behavior, okay?

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[00:28:05] Natalie: To not be bottled up and for you to be frustrated and feel like you don't have a voice.

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[00:28:19] Natalie: The next thing is being aware of the critical thoughts that you have in your own mind and challenging them.

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[00:28:51] Natalie: And this is. Just directly tied to having self-compassion, like we are all just people try to do our best, hopefully, on this planet. Okay? So you gotta treat yourself with the same kindness, the same grace, the same understanding and support that you would give to another friend, especially if they're going through maybe a challenging situation.

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[00:29:31] Natalie: It's gonna help you learn from your mistakes or adapt to challenges and obstacles that. Kind of come up in your life. So I want you to embrace challenge and rather than avoid challenges, see them as an opportunity for growth and learning. Always ask yourself even when things go wrong, even when there's mistakes, even when there's setbacks.

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[00:30:11] Natalie: For today's call to action, I want you to journal for seven days this week right before you to go to bed.

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[00:30:45] Natalie: And a bonus question, if you will, is what is at risk if you don't address it? And this bonus question is so important because again, what might you lose? Might your relationship be at risk? Your health be at risk. Your sanity and mental health be at risk. Your loved ones be at risk, your finances be at risk.

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[00:31:32] Natalie: You just need to know, you have to have a starting point and a direction. That is all you need, my friend. You cannot take care of everyone else, give nonstop and neglect yourself in the process, your cup will run empty. So it's your responsibility to fill it, and it's never too late to put yourself first and prioritize your wellness.

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[00:32:23] Natalie: In closing, I hope you see why mental wellness is just as important as physical wellness and why we need to look at wellness from a holistic perspective and consider all 12 elements, and I hope that you find ways that you can pursue your own wellness journey and see what areas you particularly might need to focus on first.

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[00:33:01] Natalie: It's a sign for me that someone out there is actually listening to these episodes and it lets me know it's making a difference. My weekly wellness letter has wellness tips, log posts, inspirational quotes, and other things to support you on your wellness journey. The link is in the show notes. This podcast is brought to you by Captivate Best podcasting platform.

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