You have an excellent job and fulfilling extracurriculars that keep you busy outside work. From the outside, it’s clear you’re doing well.
But, even though meaningful professional experiences and hobbies contribute to a satisfying life, they aren’t everything. To truly thrive, you must be well on the inside, too.
The better your mind and body feel, the more equipped you are to face the day’s challenges and savor enjoyable moments. But attaining a state of wellness is an ongoing journey that demands introspection, effort, and determination. Like any other goal you have for yourself — such as advancing your career or saving for a home — you must actively pursue wellness.
The process starts by setting wellness goals. After some deep self-reflection, you can pinpoint areas of your overall health that need improvement and outline a pathway toward a better you.
What are wellness goals?
Wellness goals are specific objectives related to your physical, mental, or emotional health. They should leave you feeling happier, healthier, and more fulfilled, like improving your sleep hygiene to get eight hours a night or making time to start a new hobby that promotes mindfulness.
Like all goals, these wellness challenges should be reasonable and measurable. They must be demanding enough to motivate you but still within your grasp, and you should have the means to track your progress toward them.
This is where the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) methodology is a valuable tool. The five SMART goal parameters help you create successful aspirations that aren’t too broad or complex to complete. Keeping tabs on your progress provides a sense of accomplishment, reinforcing the idea that you’re steadily ticking off objectives that contribute to the life you're striving to create.
4 types of wellness
Wellness looks different for everyone. Your values and needs are unique, and your goals to improve your health must reflect your individuality. By familiarizing yourself with the four types of wellness, you can expand your perspective as you brainstorm where your life could use some improvement.
Physical
Physical wellness refers to your bodily health. Nutrition, sleep hygiene, self-care rituals, and exercise all fit into this category.
Emotional
Emotional wellness reflects your state of mind. Comprehending your emotions and behaviors, sitting with feelings, and addressing challenges like depression and anxiety all comprise this wellness type.
Spiritual
Spirituality is as unique as the person who practices it. Spiritual wellness means tapping into the beliefs that guide your existence, and these thoughts don’t have to be religious. Meditation, rumination on ethics and ideals, and mindfulness can all be part of your spiritual wellness journey.
Social
Social wellness is the positive feeling of connecting with others. And not only extroverts experience this kind of wellness. For some, social health might mean sharing highlights from their day with their partner. For others, it’s attending a party with their extended family. The common denominator is meaningful connection.
10 wellness goals for a healthier life
Setting health and wellness goals is an investment in yourself. You’ll improve your physical health, build relationships with others, and foster a richer worldview.
And you don’t need endless time to start making strides right now. You can make small but mighty changes every day to begin reaping the benefits of a healthier life. Get inspired with the following 10 example goals:
Physical wellness goals
Physical health is at the core of proper human functioning. If you’ve ever skipped a meal, pulled an all-nighter, or gotten a cold, you know that when your physical state isn’t optimal, life’s daily tasks become more difficult.
The point of setting physical wellness goals is to ensure you’re meeting a healthy baseline that supports your routine activities. Get started with the following physical health goals examples:
1. Get better sleep
If you feel spacey or constantly need a nap, you’re likely not getting enough sleep. Adults need around eight hours of sleep accompanied by other types of rest, including breaks from social interaction or mentally-taxing activities. Improve your sleep hygiene by creating a nightly wind-down routine. Set daily goals: for example, light stretching, drinking tea, or journaling before bed. And improve your sleep quality by installing blackout curtains or wearing an eye mask, turning off your phone, and snoozing with earplugs.
2. Practice intuitive eating
Fad diets, poor nutritional advice, and busy schedules that don’t always allow for satisfying meals can easily inspire less-than-healthy eating habits. If you’re looking to revamp your food outlook and consume more intentionally, aim to eat intuitively. Intuitive eating teaches you to have a meal or snack when you’re hungry (instead of when your schedule or diet dictates), respect your body, and feel full. By setting a goal to eat more intuitively, you can change bad habits like restricting or binging, boost your nutritional intake, and get more enjoyment from your food.
Emotional wellness goals
When you think of goals, you likely imagine crossing the finish line of a marathon or hitting a specific dollar amount in your savings account. But improving your emotional responses and experiencing more positive feelings takes the same investment and work as any other
personal wellness goal. The road to emotional health is long, and setting small, attainable goals along your path can give you direction and reason to celebrate wins. Here are some emotional and mental health goals examples to get you started:
3. Journal daily
Journaling is a multi-beneficial activity that requires only a pen and paper. Write down what happened in your day without filtering anything, and explore your emotions on the page. It makes you more self-aware, helping you understand why you react or feel a certain way. Making these observations can help you control future behaviors, understand the need for boundaries, and decrease anxiety.
Plus, journaling is an act of meditation. It can pull you out of the spiral of a stressful day and recenter your thoughts.
4. Start therapy
Good mental health isn’t a luxury — it’s a basic need. And seeking the support of a mental health professional can help you start a productive journey toward feeling better and managing your emotions and behaviors.
A recent Gallup poll showed an increase in depression cases in the U.S., with diagnoses reaching new heights. This mental health concern affects 17.8% of the population, and an estimated 19.1% of American adults have an anxiety disorder. Take the first step toward safeguarding your mental health by researching therapists in your area and scheduling a first session. No professional is right for everyone, and finding the best help for you may take time. But starting the journey is a goal in and of itself.
5. Take social media breaks
A study published in Cureus suggests that social media can negatively impact emotional health, causing depression and anxiety. Social media can push people to compete and compare themselves instead of fostering self-love. Set a goal to reduce your social media usage by a certain number of minutes daily. If you’re spending 90 minutes on these platforms now, aim for 60. If you enjoy the change, drop to 30. Alternatively, consider taking a more extensive social media break to reset, like trying to go a week without posting or viewing anything. You may sense an uptick in mood and enjoy more time for rewarding activities, like catching up with a friend or reading.
Spiritual wellness goals
Spirituality can mean attending church or practicing Buddhism, but at its core, it’s about getting in touch with your ethics, beliefs, and ideals. Setting spiritual goals helps you carve out time for these kinds of meditation, shedding light on your relationships with the world and people around you. Not only will you learn about yourself, but you’ll also experience health perks as a byproduct. Here are a couple of spiritual goals to add to your wellness plan:
6. Spend more time in nature
No matter your belief system, you can find joy in nature. The American Psychology Association (APA) says spending time outside boosts cognition and mental health. By stepping away from your workspace and into the park, you gain a much-needed break and an opportunity to refocus your attention. And according to that same study by the APA, attention restoration drives stress reduction.
Plus, you can squeeze in some light physical activity, too, which supports better overall health. The take-home point? Setting a goal to get outside doesn’t just strengthen your bond with nature. It can spur some significant health benefits, too.
7. Practice mindfulness
Just like refocusing on nature can deconstruct stress, staying in the present with mindful meditations can reduce anxiety and depression. And focusing on the moment may lower your blood pressure, improve sleep, and help you manage pain. Practicing mindfulness is a worthy goal, and you can make the aim even more specific by vowing to perform a breathing exercise twice a day or to use a relaxation technique, like body-scan meditation, every night before you go to bed.
Social
Perhaps you find yourself exhausted after a weekend of back-to-back social commitments, or maybe you’re experiencing loneliness. These extremes indicate that something’s off in your social life. If you’re overwhelmed by a bustling social calendar, you don’t go off the grid to recuperate — nor do you have to attend every party just because you’re feeling alone. Instead, set reasonable goals toward a social life that fulfills you:
8. Have more meaningful conversations
If you’re dizzied by a rigorous social calendar but lacking connection, the cause could be that you’re not having deep chats. Surface conversations can be numbing. You end up feeling like people don’t know you (or you, them), and you may sense you can’t trust these connections.
According to Psyche magazine, meaningful conversations allow people to learn about themselves, the world, and others’ views. These interactions help you feel seen and forge deeper bonds. Aim to have one deep conversation daily — whether you have a wellness-boosting interaction with a coworker or check up on a loved one.
9. Add a social event to your week
Loneliness can become a loop. At first, you hanker for more social connection. Then, chronic loneliness sets in, becoming a habitual part of your daily schedule. Break the cycle by upping your social interactions by one weekly event. And the event doesn’t have to be a big party — take a walk with a friend, chat with the barista at your coffee shop, or catch up with a family member.
10. Volunteer
Volunteering may not be the first activity that comes to mind when you think of helping yourself. However, the Mayo Clinic describes assisting others as an excellent way to forge new social connections and gain a greater sense of purpose. Plus, you can sign up to volunteer in an area that interests you and do something you enjoy with others who enjoy it, too. If you’re a foodie, help cook once a week at your local soup kitchen. If you care for the environment, plant trees with like-minded folks on the weekends.
Your wellness is worth working toward
“Improve wellness” isn’t as tangible as “buy an apartment” or “get a promotion.” So, setting goals around being well may not come naturally.
But it’s possible to establish wellness goals the same way you’d set other goals: by devising specific, measurable ambitions you’ll feel good about achieving. And setting these types of goals is essential. After all, wellness is at the center of your experiences — feeling healthy allows you to take advantage of that promotion or enjoy your new apartment more.
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