WOMEN’S HEALTH MONTH CALLS FOR A DIFFERENT CONVERSATION - THE small change CONVERSATION

Every May, organizations across the country encourage women to prioritize their physical, mental, and emotional well-being through checkups, screenings, and the establishment of healthy habits. It’s great advice, but it’s incomplete. 

True wellness encompasses the whole person, and the small change Wholistic Approach to Wellness fills in the missing pieces of the health and wellness puzzle. It’s based on a simple conviction: Health isn’t a destination you arrive at - it’s a journey, so it's time we address it from a different perspective. 

I’m a small change Wellness Butterfly. Like all butterflies, I started out as a caterpillar. The journey has been hard at times, but overall, it’s been good.  

I’ve lived the small change way most of my life - even before I had a name for it. I was raised by a single mother, so I learned early on that it was small change that kept food on the table and a roof over our heads. As a teen, while my mother worked outside the home, I ran the house - from doing laundry to preparing meals - I did it the small change way. 

The small change approach helped me manage community-based and regional health promotion programs for over 30 years. For 17 years, it’s kept me thriving with severe cervical and lumbar disc disease. Since 2017, when my daughter Mia survived a massive stroke that left her permanently disabled, it’s been the power of small changes that helped her evolve into a small change butterfly, one day at a time. 

What sets this approach apart is not so much what it does, but what it refuses to do. It refuses to isolate the body from the other seven dimensions of wellness. It refuses to downplay the pivotal role that the spiritual dimension of wellness plays in preventing and managing health conditions. It refuses to demand the use of expensive equipment or radical life overhauls. 

I’m not the only advocate for the small change strategy. For over two decades, public and private health initiatives have encouraged small steps rather than drastic changes, and they have proven valuable in helping people adopt healthier lifestyle changes. However, many are not sustainable, often because they build from the wrong starting point - they emphasize tangible factors such as diet, exercise, and things that can be measured. 

Health is more than what you eat, how often you exercise, and how often you see a doctor. Everything you do impacts your health; therefore, you need a strategy that addresses the whole person - the small change strategy.   

Have you ever wondered what small steps could help you thrive with a chronic condition? Or what little changes might make a big difference in your daily well-being? If so, I invite you to join me this month and explore how the small change Wholistic Approach to Wellness can support your journey! 

Start small, Be Well! 

For additional wellness tips, subscribe to my small change Weekly Wellness Tips at https://www.myrtlerussell.com/contact-us.