wellĀ·ness [/ĖwelnÉs/] n.
the state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal.
āGood healthā can mean different things to different people, because everyone has different goals. Today, I want to share my personal wellness routine & define what good health and wellness means to me.
Why is āwellnessā important?
Wellness impacts nearly every aspect of oneās life. Physical health, mental health, spirituality, personal fulfillment, identityāthe balance of all of these are vital to oneās wellness. I think that Millennials and Gen Z collectively have become more aware of all these aspects of health in comparison to our parentsā and grandparentsā generation. Whereas many of our parents (especially immigrant parents) have been living in survival mode, todayās world is quite a bit more accepting and progressive in terms of wellness (and especially in regards to mental health).
There is no greater time to be intentional about your overall health than now.
My Wellness Routine
Supplements & Medication
Once I turned 26, I had to find and pay for my own insurance. I figured: well since I am paying for insurance now, I might as well take advantage it! So I went to go get a physical and got blood work done for the first time in my adult life. I learned that I had a few vitamin deficiencies and this was also around the same time that I started antidepressants. I guess this could be considered my foray into wellness.
ā Antidepressants: 15mg Lexapro/Escilatopram
This is a huge part of my wellness routine! Antidepressants help me stabilize my anxiety & treat depression. Iāve been on them for nearly 2 years now and my only regret is that I didnāt inquire about them sooner!I let the stigma of psychiatric medications get to me, so I needlessly suffered longer than I needed to. But better late than never! They literally saved my life & I am not ashamed of it š¤
ā Multivitamin: 1,000 IU vitamin D3, 6mg iron, 2.4mcg b12
After getting blood work done, I found out that I have a vitamin D deficiency so I take this multivitamin with vitamin d3. Did you know that around 42% of Americans are vitamin D deficient? This number is even higher for people of colorā82.1% of Black Americans are vitamin D deficient and the darker the color of your skin, the more at risk you are for a vitamin D deficiency! Multivitamins are a great way to support my overall health & help fill in nutrition gaps.
ā 600mg Ashwaganda extract
Ashwaganda has been celebrated for centuries in the Indian practice of Ayurveda for its therapeutic qualities. More recently, several studies have shown that in addition to regular exercise, Ashwaganda can help to improve stress and physical endurance.
ā 200mg American Ginseng
Many Native American tribes used American Ginseng for centuries and recent studies have shown that it supports healthy energy levels, cognitive function, and working memory.
Exercise
A lot of you may know that I started working out consistently towards the end of last year and I donāt regret it at all! It has been so great for not only my physical health but also my mental health, self esteem, balance, stressā¦just so many benefits!
For the past month, Iāve been using the Future app*. It connects you with a personal trainer who tailors workouts every week, specifically for you and your goals. I love it! Iāve been trying to gain weight/muscle and since Iāve been using the app, Iāve gained around 3lbs which is awesome :)
*Disclaimer: The video above is sponsored by Future, but I am not being paid to mention it here. I genuinely enjoy the program Iāve been doing & will continue to do so moving forward!
Nutrition
Since Iām trying to gain weight, itās important for me to eat enough calories and protein to promote muscle gain. I use the MyFitnessPal app to track my calorie intake and macros to ensure that Iām properly fueling my body for my workouts.
Tracking my intake made me realize that:
I am not eating nearly enough protein that I should be eating
I am not eating enough fresh fruits & veggies either
Tracking intake isnāt for everyone (and could be very triggering for some), but it has really helped me be more intentional with my physical health and nutrition.
How I Improve My Posture
When I went to the chiropractor back in 2019, I got x-rays done. When my chiropractor took a look at them, he asked "have you been in a car accident?ā
Turns out that the ailments in my neck and shoulders were consistent with someone who has been in a minor car crash, and it was all because of my bad posture and anxiety. I had a pretty gnarly case of text neck, which refers to a repetitive stress injury to the neck caused by having your head in a forward position for extended period (aka texting or spending time on the computer).
I got into physical therapy for about a year and my chiropractor gave me a cervical denneroll to use for 10-15 minutes everyday to improve my posture and cervical curve.
Text neck is pretty common for our generation, so Iād highly recommend going to a chiropractor or physical therapist to get checked out.
Staying Hyperorganized
Getting hyperorganized with my schedule and work stuff was very essential to my wellness because it made me way less susceptible to burnout and greatly reduced my stress and anxiety (with the help of exercise & antidepressantsā¦see how everything is connected?)
I use two apps to stay organized:
Notion ā I use this to keep track of my entire life, basically haha. I use it to organize my projects, brand deals, budgets, everything!
Structured ā I use this app to time block my days to make sure that Iām able to complete everything that I say I will.
IN CONCLUSION
Wellness is super important. Get into it.
Thanks for sharing! Someday, Iād love to use Structure for organization but itās currently impossible as a caregiver for my mom lol. My life is not mine at the moment!
Iāve been SLACKING on all the care including myself and my space around me as I launched my own substack (!!!) this past week!
I keep telling myself āonce Iām on top of the schedule, THEN I can tend to myself!ā
But I mean... I think Iām just gonna have to do another audit of my life to make sure thereās a better balance. Iām also following and experimenting with my Human Design! Thatāll help with taking better care of me too.
Thanks for sharing and canāt wait to watch! Iāve got a couple of your vids to catch up on and I try to watch chill, aesthetic vlogs in the mornings and on Sundayās... chaotic gamers and video essays come at night LOL!
Thanks again! Iām out here taking vitamin D3 cause I canāt afford to get a full on checkup yet and know itās supposed to help with mood and The Virus (TM). And Iām about to look into cycle and seed syncing for my PMDD. Had two great months with no symptoms and I wanna keep that up, whatever I did! Haha