The ESSENCE OF WELLBEING …

Last week, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a group of educators to explore and define what wellbeing means to us. This process is incredibly valuable, as it equips us to better partner with schools, students, staff, and parents by reflecting on wellbeing across various aspects of our own lives. I always find these discussions deeply enriching and rewarding, especially given the diverse range of community members we engage with daily as educators. Moreover, it’s essential to recognise that our own wellbeing is just as important as that of our students, as it is fundamentally interconnected with their success as learners.

As you can see from our visual mind-dump, sometimes this sort of work leaves us swimming in more language and more of a muddle 🤷. To be honest, I love swimming in language and muddles 😉.

All weekend, I have been thinking about it and reflecting on my own life experiences and if I were given a word limit when asked about wellbeing, how would I respond.

Our wellbeing is more than episodes and chapters of happiness. Real Wellbeing is a long-lasting, holistic view of our lives. It is a complex combination of connection with our true selves, with others and with our concept of our place as we live our daily lives.

We use a lot of phrases with others when we reach out to support such as; 'you've got this', 'I believe in you' and 'you can do this'! A strong sense of wellbeing is when we are using this as self-talk inwardly.

To simplify:
I'm doing what I want to do, how I want to do it, when I want to do it. I have purpose in life – I'm just going to go for it!

This doesn’t mean that we always feel this way or maintain this internal self-talk consistently. Rather, it emphasises that we have the ability to feel this way, adopt this mindset over time, and gradually bring ourselves into balance.

Regardless of where we are in life, real wellbeing requires us to pay attention to our life as a whole. When we understand what we want to achieve in life, learn from past experiences, and have the security, opportunity and connections to do what makes us happy, we are well on the path to wellbeing.