When ‘I’ is replaced by ‘We’ even Illness becomes Wellness.
Easier said than done, you think?
The truth is it can be done.
Wellness is an active process, a choice, a way of life. When we focus on Wellness it expands & when we focus on illness it usually keeps us ill.
Let me stack up the arguments for the same.
When we are sick it’s so easy to proclaim to anyone who cares to listen, ‘I’m so sick’. When we are well we hardly go around saying ‘Oh I’m so well.
When people routinely throw around courtesies-Hey!! How are you? They don’t really wait to hear your response; then you don’t feel so fine anymore.
I am not asking you to be the ‘forced optimist’.
Sometimes we tell people, ‘I’m fine’, I’m alright & push them away, when all you really want them to do is notice that, “You are not looking Ok, wrap you up in a big warm hug & tell you it’s going to be ok & they will be there for you.
Wellness is not about saying ‘Fine’ when you are not fine
Wellness is not about denying that you are ill or getting to work despite a raging fever…. it’s about honoring your body’s need for rest. It’s about asking ‘what can I do to take care of my illness?
We have been trained to give fake excuses when we want to take leave of absence from work.
Its always been –‘I will not be able to attend work today, since I am unwell’ or a fake Doctors certificate to say ‘He is advised bed rest for 2 weeks’.
There’s no boss that will accept ‘I’m going to the Alps for a vacation’ without going into apoplectic fits. So to overcome this, some of us have a special talent to plan ahead to feel miserable.

Think back at your past week-Did your conversations include more of aches & pains or joy & ease? Sometimes it seems like we are all in a contest to see whose story holds the most pain or sickness.
It happens to me quite often. When I’m complaining of my illness or pain, I want mine to be the most ‘attention getting one’. But even before I have the chance to complete my story, ‘they’ are already having a better one, a more painful & more ‘sympathy worthy’ story than mine. So, the next time we had a family get together, I came up with this idea-Each one would get a full 15 minutes to share their ‘Sickness/pain story’ during which they would have the undivided attention of the audience. It was a big hit. So this is one strategy you can add to your toolkit.
There’s another one that I picked up at a session on Stress Management.
We had to each draw a personal bucket, inside which we wrote the things we do to keep ourselves filled up, nourished, energized & healthy. Then we used our artistic skills to depict our stressors that poked holes in our bucket or caused wellness to leak.
What will you fill in your Wellness Bucket?
Meditation, walking, reading, Healthy food, sleep, making love, praying, laughing, connecting with family, meeting up with a friend for lunch, volunteering, Pilates, hiking, curling up with your pet…
As you fill in all this, also ensure that you plug your wellness leaks.
It could be negative people, Laziness, lack of exercise, junk food, gadget overdose, aimlessness, carrying the boredom virus& a whole lot more.
On World Mental Health Day today Oct 10th , take a Wellness pledge –“To think & become a Wellness Ambassador”
Share your wellness story with me at vijayashri@cpcw.org.in