Defining Wellness

Manderscheid et al. (2010) said physical and mental wellness is “the degree to which one feels positive and enthusiastic about oneself and life.” This implies that someone can have health problems, but as long as they are in a good place emotionally, socially, and cognitively, they can still experience wellness. Wellness involves a deliberate and purposeful drive for improvement. If someone has heart disease or diabetes, their health may be compromised, but their efforts to get better and their mental state can allow them to be well, even if they are not in a complete state of health. This allows us to frame wellness as a means of working toward ongoing self-improvement rather than thinking of wellness as an endpoint.