8 Dimensions of Wellness

Emotional wellness consists of the knowledge and skills to identify personal feelings and the ability to handle those emotions.

Goals for your Emotional Wellness

• Become more aware of your feelings and accept them as valid indicators of what you are experiencing.
• Develop the ability to experience and appropriately express a wide range of emotions such as humor, joy, fear, anger, frustration, appreciation, sadness, etc.
• Develop assertiveness and confrontation skills.
• Develop positive feelings about yourself by instituting healthy self-esteem and self-concept.
• Develop the skills to handle stress, irritations, crises, etc.
• Explore and clarify your own sexual identity.
• Develop, establish, and maintain intimate and loving relationships.

Physical wellness encompasses all areas of health that relate to physical aspects of the body including, nutrition, exercise, weight management, ergonomics, tobacco use, disease, disease prevention, and more.

Goals for your Physical Wellness

• Understand how and why your body works.
• Feel comfortable with your physical appearance.
• Make informed choices about your body and sexuality.
• Feel competent at physical activities.
• Develop well-balanced and healthy eating habits.
• Become a responsible drinker or a non-drinker.
• Become aware of how a lack of sleep, stress, and non-activity affect your body.
• Become aware of how food, beverages, drugs, chemicals, additives, and caffeine affect your body.
• Engage in regular movement to improve flexibility, strength, aerobic, and cardiovascular health.
• Develop and cultivate leisure activities.
• Seek medical care when needed for illness, injury and preventative care.

Occupational wellness encompasses all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to personal satisfaction in your job/career. 

Goals for your Occupational Wellness

• Increase your awareness of the wide variety of major/career opportunities available to you.
• Challenge societal sex role and other barriers that limit major/career choices.
• Explore your interests, skill, and values and needs and how they relate to major/career choice.
• Choose a major/career direction that reflects your values, preferences, interests, and skills.
• Understand the relationship between your major/career choice and other parts of your life such as with your family, spouse/partner, leisure activities, friends.
• Develop effective job-related skills in assertiveness, confrontation, feedback, time management, active listening, motivation, etc.
• Understand how many people change their major in college and their career directions many times throughout their lives.

Social wellness encompasses all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to social connections, relationships, and personal expression.

Goals for your Social Wellness

• Develop the ability to create and maintain close friendships.
• Feel comfortable interacting with diverse individuals and groups.
• Become aware of your responsibilities for the welfare of different communities.
• Understand and accept those with a different sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, life experience, etc.
• Understand the concepts of sex and gender role stereotyping and explore appropriate sex and gender role behavior for yourself.
• Develop a "global consciousness" by recognizing the interrelatedness of cultural, global, and national issues and needs.
• Work toward becoming a responsible world citizen.

Spiritual wellness encompasses all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to the search for purpose and meaning in life. This may include the belief in a higher power, but spiritual wellness does not have to be aligned with a religion.

Goals for your Spiritual Wellness

• Explore your personal values.
• Question and clarify your values.
• Become aware of how values develop and change from life experiences.
• Become aware of the differences in others’ values.
• Search for meaning in your own life.
• Develop integrity by acting in ways that are consistent with your values.
• Explore the issues related to mortality and your own life and death.

Intellectual wellness consists of all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to brain health and growth via thought-provoking mental activities.

Goals for your Intellectual Wellness

• Strive to be open to new experiences and ideas in all areas of your life.
• Expand your ability to create, develop, analyze, critique, concentrate, understand, evaluate, problem solve, predict, comprehend, etc.
• Feel competent in intellectual and academic activities by improving your skills in academics, studying, time management, stress management, note-taking, listening, and public speaking.
• Develop a love for learning and philosophy for “life-long learning”.

Environmental Wellness encompasses all areas of health that relate to the environment and in turn, how the environment can impact human health. Environmental wellness includes eco-friendly considerations, active participation in recycling and proper disposal of electronics and medicine, energy, fuel, and water conservation, and the use of sustainable products.

Goals for your Environmental Wellness

• Become aware of how your external environment affects you.
• Redesign your environments to more effectively support and reinforce your needs.
• Be concerned about the future of the local, national and world ecology and climate.
• Minimize your contribution to the destruction of the outdoor environment.

Financial wellness contains all aspects of wellbeing pertaining to finances including knowledge and skills of financial planning and managing expenses.

Goals for your Financial Wellness

• Learning how to gain control of your finances so they work for you.
• Understanding how to manage a budget, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, investments, retirement funds, etc.
• Handling finances without too much stress.
• Setting and making progress toward your short- and long-term goals.
• Not spending too much time and effort handling your finances.
• Know the resources available to you on campus to help if you are experiencing a financial issue such as food insecurity, homelessness, economic crisis, or financial management.