3 Out of the Box Wellness Ideas for 2023

There are many paths to wellness. Some are more unorthodox than others.

Wellness, you sigh.

Let’s face it, you have a vague idea about what wellness is. You even think it may have something to do with yoga or Tai Chi, or maybe even spending half an hour smelling the roses in your local park.

But, while these are all legitimate, there are many more paths to wellness than that, and some of them can be based on quite conventional activities and not just on being a Yoga-junkie.

If you want to know three simple potential routes to wellness, then you’ve come to the right place.

This post is the first of an occasional series where some of the more orthodox paths to wellness are discussed.

Write every day if you aspire to wellness

When I was in the Priory Hospital with late-onset bipolar disorder, the Yoga teacher would tell me: “If it’s troubling you get it down on paper.”

And that’s exactly what I did. I spent a year writing my 60,000-word mental health autobiography. It was extremely cathartic, and with every page I wrote I imagined myself shovelling the mud and detritus that had buried my soul for years out into a huge yellow skip. It’s probably being published in Summer 2023, so stay tuned for developments.

I’m not suggesting that everyone seeking wellness needs to embark upon such a grand venture, but it would help if you just kept a journal, or did a daily exercise of writing nonsense for five minutes.

There’s a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron which is full of helpful tips and exercises about writing.

Start a Blog to leverage wellness

Some writers need a more targeted approach and something to give them more of a focus. If that’s you, then consider setting up a blog. It can be done very quickly and cheaply using Wix, or WordPress and Bluehost.

The great thing about blogging is that you can write relatively short commentaries of between 500 and 2,000 words which are extremely satisfying. It’s a bit like the literary equivalent of a surgical strike.

There’s one problem, though: a blogger is both writer and editor, so you have to learn how efficiently and effectively to edit your own work, and also be restrained in what you write, remembering the restrictions of libel law, obscenity law, and the strictures of good old common sense and decency.

In future posts I will explain how I set myself up as a blogger and the regimen I imposed upon myself, as well as my business plan. If you’re interested in blogging, two good places to start are with SmartBlogger first, and later with Adam Enfroy.

Blogging is extremely rewarding, think seriously about it. But one final word of warning. If you want to build your blog into a business rather than a hobby blog it takes time and effort. You’re extremely unlikely to have overnight success.

But it's great fun in the meantime.

Go for a walk every day to stimulate wellness

Walking is a great low-impact exercise, unlike jogging which is high-impact and can get to your knees, back, and hips after a while if you’re not careful.

To go walking every day, even longer walks, all you need is a good pair of boots, a rainproof jacket and a day sack.

I recently wrote an article for the Successity Blog from Robert Porter which set out some of the benefits of going for a walk every day.

The bottom line is it’s an entry point to an exciting new world. Not only can you gaze at the landscapes, befriend the people you meet on your journey, and have a bromance with a walking companion. You can also buy a guidebook about plants and trees and take up botany. Want to buy a book about birds and wildlife and become an ornithologist or a naturalist? That’s possible, too.

That’s exactly what young Dara McNulty did, and it sent him places he could barely imagine when he published his book Diary of a Young Naturalist.

Bring your SmartPhone with you and begin to learn how to be an expert photographer.

It’s all there waiting for you, and all the while you should be getting thinner and fitter.

Ultimately, walking every day opens up a world of vacation possibilities. You can go for walking weekends in the hills and mountains or even book up a two-week trek in the foothills of the Himalayas. One excellent package adventure holiday company that specializes in these types of vacations is Exodus Travels.

Walking has brought me great joy in life, and I hope it will continue to do so.

May the same be true for you, too.

There’s more to come…

So, there you are. Three out of the box wellness ideas. You see, wellness isn’t just a state of mind, it’s a way of life. And it’s a way of life you can access through many very basic things that we can incorporate into our everyday lives. You don’t have to be supple as a Yoga teacher, or as disciplined as a Tai Chi master, to enjoy wellness.

So, that’s my first three basic out of the box wellness ideas. There’s more where that came form, so look out for further articles in this series…