When I turned 30 a couple years ago, I decided I really wanted to overhaul and fine-tune my personal style.
I also told myself I was going to exercise and take better care of my body. And my hair, skin, and nails.
Oh yeah, and I said I’d organize all the photos in my external hard drive, clean out my Evernote account, send birthday cards to family members and stick to a chore schedule.
Oh! And let’s not forget, declutter all the junk that takes up way too much space in my closet.
…and finally figure out how to catalogue all my books so I remember what I have when I’m browsing at the bookstore.
Okay, so let’s just say that I wanted to upgrade my life in my 30s. Fine-tune my rhythms, routines, spaces, self care and general doings. Ultimately, I wanted to craft a lifestyle that is both balanced and beautiful for myself and my family.
All of those desires turned into a general outlook of self care that has evolved into what I now call the Live Well 6. These are 6 areas of wellness and self care that I believe will help me (and you!) live well and stay focused on what matters most!
In this post, I’m going to run through all of the Live Well 6 areas and at the end of the post, you’ll find individual blog posts that go more in depth. You’ll also find a link to a freebie planner printable you can use to plan Live Well 6 goals and activities for a quarter!
Live Well Faithfully
As a Christian, faith is the starting point for my approach to lifestyle. It has to be. What I believe about God, my love for him, and his will and purpose for my life is at the heart of everything else I do. So the first of the Live Well 6 is to Live Well Faithfully. This isn’t just personal growth or spirituality – this is about cultivating a deep relationship with Jesus. Without that, honestly, the rest of the Live Well 6 doesn’t have any longevity. In the same way my body can go without water for a limited amount of time, I can’t go without my connection to Jesus and expect to live well and stay focused.
Living well faithfully includes spiritual disciplines like –
- Prayer
- Bible engagement
- Local church community
- Service & Giving
- Simplicity
- Fasting
Building a well balanced lifestyle in this area means pursuing Jesus by cultivating spiritual disciplines like these and others.
Live Well Physically
I’m a firm believer in the fact that, in the long run, we can only take care of our people and responsibilities as well as we take care of ourselves. You might be able to burn the candle at both ends for awhile but it doesn’t last forever. Think about it, we can only serve, produce, problem solve, troubleshoot, create, and give as well as our minds and bodies allow us to. This is why prioritizing our health is so important. When our minds and bodies are functioning as well as they can, we have more to give to other areas of the Live Well 6.
Living well physically includes –
- Food & Hydration
- Exercise
- Rest
- Mental health
- Hygiene & personal style
I include mental and hygiene and style here because I don’t think that’s particularly useful to separate them into different categories. My mental health is just as important as exercising or fueling my body. By the same token, having a well-thought out, put together personal style isn’t extra – it’s an essential.
Live Well Socially
Often, when we think of wellness and self care, it’s often in the context of what we do alone. But the truth is that we are social creatures and we need other people too! That’s why the 3rd in the Live Well 6 is all about relationships and etiquette. Who you are with those you love, those you work with, and those you serve should be extensions of who you are at our core. Sometimes that’s hard because we’re not really sure who we are or want to be. But even as we’re learning and growing in every season, we can put our best foot forward and nurture the relationships we’ve been given and present ourselves to the world as people who care because Jesus cared. In a self-absorbed culture, sometimes caring is the hardest thing we can do – but it’s worth it in the end.
Living well socially includes –
- Scheduling time to spend with family/friends
- Opening your home for intentional hospitality
- Being present when around others
- Tuning in to the needs of your family, friends, co-workers, etc.
- Going out of your way to help someone else
- Understanding your personality and what drains you and fills you up
- Learning the art of conversation
- Being a voice for those who don’t have one
- Sticking up for what you believe in
- Paying attention to “old fashioned” etiquette rules
Live Well Environmentally
This 4th area is one of my favorites and the one that I have the hardest time with! One of my faves because I love the thought of what it would really mean to live well environmentally. One of the hardest for me because it takes a lot of intentional work that doesn’t come naturally to me. To Live Well Environmentally means to take care of your spaces and resources. This is going to include your home, workplace, possessions, finances and any other resources you have.
Having space and stuff is a privilege and we should take care of what we have. What’s more, when we take care of our spaces and stuff and treat them like the useful tools and resources they are, instead of letting them control and overwhelm us, we’re more productive, more creative, more at peace, and happier!
Living well environmentally includes –
- Keeping home decor functional, personalized, and simple
- Maintaining chore schedules
- Keeping a budget
- Having a system for organizing/storing digital information
- Taking care of your stuff so that it serves you well
- Decluttering your space from excess things that you don’t need
- Being generous with your resources whenever you have the chance
Live Well Vocationally
We don’t use the word vocation a lot but when talking about lifestyle, I think it’s an important word. The simple definition of vocation is a person’s occupation. Most often this is the thing that pays the bills, however, it’s not limited to that. I like to think of vocation as simply the main work a person does (paid or unpaid). So whether you love your work or would rather be doing something else, living well vocationally means being intentional about how we approach and take advantage of the work set before us.
Living well vocationally includes –
- Doing your best at all times
- Maintaining boundaries between work hours and personal hours
- Going out of your way to help those you work with and those you serve
- Staying creative and innovative
- Keeping a vision for the future of your work
Live Well Avocationally
A person’s avocation is the hobby or occupation that is secondary to their main work or vocation. I consider this to be all the things we do for fun! One lesson my dad instilled in my brother and me, it’s to work hard and play hard. Play, in whatever form you prefer, is so important for adults. It’s good for our brains, our stress levels, our bodies, our creativity, and attitudes! Avocation isn’t like a cherry on top – it’s an integral part of living well and staying focused.
Living well avocationally includes –
- Learning a new skill or brushing up an old one
- Taking time for yourself
- Understand your play personality (which you can check out here)
- Play with others
These are the areas of the Live Well 6! I’ll continue to write more about each of these topics as I learn more and fine tune my personal lifestyle. If you want to read further about the Live Well 6, you can check out each post in the series here:
- Live Well Faithfully
- Live Well Physically
- Live Well Socially
- Live Well Environmentally
- Live Well Vocationally
- Live Well Avocationally
And if you want to check out the free Live Well 6 printable page, you can find it in the Resource Library.
Leave a Reply