Studying the six dimensions of wellness model and health psychology has made me to realize

that wellness is a holistic integration of physical wellness, intellectual wellness

(cognitive/mental), social wellness, and spiritual wellness, emotional and occupational wellness.
According to Hettler (1976) the physical dimension recognizes the need for regular physical
activity. I rate my physical dimension at 5/10. I can safely say my physical
dimension has
deteriorated over the years. I am a person who is not concerned much about his body to stay
health. As postulated by Hettler (1976) optimal wellness is met through the combination of good
exercise and eating habits. I generally don’t eat well and I skip meals. Furthermore, I don’t do
any exercises and gradually am losing weight.
On the intellectual dimension I rate myself 7/10. Hettler (1976) postulate that intellectual
wellness
is about growing intellectually, maintain curiosity about all there is to learn, valuing lifelong
learning, responding positively to intellectual challenges. I consider myself a person who is
eager
to learn new things and I am curious to try something new and challenging my cognition.
My social dimension rating is 4/10. Hettler (1976) argues that the social dimension encourages
contributing to one´s environment and community. I am an introvert person who is not good at
maintaining healthy relationships, not comfortable being around a lot of people, not good at
developing intimate relationships. Truly, I am not good at carrying about others and letting
others
care about me.
Emotionally I rate myself 5/10. I believe I am at a stage where I am in a position to understand,
respect my feelings, values and attitudes. Emotional wellness includes, the degree to which one
feels positive and enthusiastic about life and self (Hetteler, 1976). Accepting mistakes and learn
from them is one of my strength emotionally as I don’t dwell in the past but I foster to be
positive and move on.
Regarding occupational wellness I rate it at 5/10. I believe am not having the ability to achieve a
balance between work and leisure time, addressing workplace stress and building relationships
with co-workers. Being an immigrant living band working in a foreign country is truly limiting
occupational wellness. The occupational wellness dimension recognizes personal satisfaction
and
enrichment in one’s life throughout. Thus, occupational wellness involves exploring
various
career options and finding where I fit this is any opportunity that I was granted through studying
with University of the People (UoPeople).
Analysis of my highest wellness dimension intellectual dimension at 7/10 this is my strength as
I
always stretch my mind despite life challenges. I am a person who is always ready to learn
something new. I believe is vital for one to gain and maintain intellectual wellness because it
expands knowledge and skills in order live a stimulating and successful life. Currently I am
learning computer programming and my associate degree in health science I believe in creating
opportunities rather than to wait for someone to create them for me. I have made it my policy to
surround myself with people who challenge my cognition.
My lowest wellness dimension rated at 4/10 the social dimension is mainly due
to the fact that I’m an introvert. It makes me want to distance myself from people and I feel
more comfortable being alone which retard my ability to develop intimacy with others, and
creating a support network of friends and community members.
Learning about the six dimensions of wellness has enlighten me that for one to be health or well
various domains need to be taken care of as all the six dimension of wellness depend on each
other for one to be equally fit. This actively relates well with concepts of unit 1 of health
psychology as we analyzed what makes one get sick ,looking at biopsychosocial
factors,
Biomedical model and other key frameworks of health psychology.
REFERENCES
Hettler, B. (1976). The Six Dimensions of Wellness Model. National Wellness Institute, Inc.
Retrieved from
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nationalwellness.org/resource/resmgr/pdfs/sixdimensionsfactsheet
.
pdf .