Making lifestyle changes can be daunting. It’s easy to feel like our current position is far away from where we want to be. Whether you’re working on changes to your nutrition habits, physical activity, or other lifestyle changes like stress management, crafting a wellness vision statement is a helpful tool to guide you towards the future.
What is a wellness vision?
A wellness vision is a descriptive, creative statement that describes how you see yourself in the future as a result of behavioral changes. You can create a wellness vision as a visualization exercise, where you imagine and envision this scenario in your mind.
This is a type of meditation called guided imagery, which can help you relax and cope with stress. Once you’ve practiced visualization, take the next step and write down details about your vision into your wellness vision statement. Recording your wellness vision is great because you can then place it somewhere you’ll see it and reflect back on your goals. You can also choose to share it with a friend or loved one.
You don’t have to stop at one vision, either. Over time, your goals and vision can change. Grab a notebook and get creative! And take note of how you feel after completing this exercise; ideally you’ll feel calm, refreshed, and have a positive outlook for your future. Journaling can help lower stress and be an effective tool is managing our health.
Steps to creating your own wellness vision
- Start by using the present tense to immerse yourself in the vision. You’ll want to be in a calm, quiet place where you feel comfortable closing your eyes and using your imagination.
- Next, imagine a specific time in the future that you’re looking forward to. You can choose any time that makes sense to you; it can be weeks, months, or even years into the future. It could even be a specific event, like a class reunion or family get together. You can start with some basic information and let yourself get creative to really fill out the vision.
- Identify what priorities you have at this time. These could include important people, places, or activities that you’re participating in. Build connections between these high priority areas, where possible. A sense of connection has been demonstrated to be critical in crafting lasting behavioral change.
- Include your state of health and what habits you’re engaging in to support your health. Your wellness and lifestyle should certainly be a part of the vision, but they may not be the entire focus. Remember, it’s not a food diary or an exercise log.
- Reflect on how you feel and what the future looks like from this point.
Prompts to use with your wellness vision
A wellness vision creates an opportunity to ask ourselves clarifying questions about our identity, core values, and priorities. Your vision is unique to you. Some questions you may ask yourself as you develop your wellness vision include:
- How do you look and feel when engaging in healthy behaviors?
- How do you benefit from engaging in these behaviors?
- What have you done to make your lifestyle changes sustainable for you? What challenges have you overcome and what do you anticipate will come next?
- What activities, people, experiences, and places are important to you? How do you connect these to your wellbeing?
- What are your values and how do they show up in your vision?
Similarly, once we’ve created a vision we have an opportunity to refine our goals now that we have an idea of what we are working towards.
- What are your strengths?
- What strategies can you use day-to-day to keep on track?
- What habits, interests, or values do you have that can support your wellbeing?
- Who do you see as key supporters or collaborators?
- What resources are available to you that you could take advantage of? What resources would ideally be available?
- What obstacles do you think you’ll encounter on this wellness journey? How can you overcome them?
A sample wellness vision
It’s spring of 2035. My oldest child is graduating from high school this weekend and heading off to college at the end of the summer. It’s hard to believe this time has flown by so quickly; it feels like just yesterday that I was pushing their stroller up and down all the hills in our neighborhood. We’re busy with all of the usual graduation events, so I make sure to get up early to go for a quick run. Being up early helps me beat the heat and it feels great to know I have some activity minutes taken care of early in the morning. When I get home, I grab a few items I prepped over the weekend from the fridge. Meal planning and finding some time on the weekends to batch cook has helped me stay on track with getting plenty of fruits and vegetables most days. It’s also saved us a lot of money since we aren’t ordering out. This is an added bonus since we have some big expenses coming up (tuition). I hop on my bike and ride the few miles to work, passing the elementary school where I used to drop the kids off on their little bikes, and am pleased when my fitness tracker buzzes that I’ve met my movement goal for the day. I have a straightforward day at work and am able to warm up my packed lunch and enjoy it outside under the big magnolia tree outside my building. I run into an old coworker and enjoy catching up for a few minutes. At the end of the day, I head home and spend a little while piddling in my garden before we enjoy a family dinner together. It’s nothing fancy; just a finishing-up-leftovers kind of meal since we have some celebrations coming up, but I’m feeling extra aware of the joy of time spent together. I’ve worked hard to find a balance where I can enjoy simple, nutritious meals most of the time and also enjoy going out for something special once in a while, too. By the end of the day, I feel comfortably tired and fall asleep quickly after reading a new book by my favorite author. I’m excited to wake up the next day because I enjoy my routine and I’m feeling strong and capable of taking on the life changes that are coming up.