#2. Environmental Wellness: Living in harmony with the environment

Environmental wellness has two aspects to it, the actual physical environment and your personal environment. To elaborate, the physical environment is the earth, climate and how it’s condition directly affects us and your personal environment is the social environment that you are a part of. As we all know everything that exists in an ecosystem is co-dependent which means our physical environment greatly affects our wellbeing and vice versa.

Unsustainable human practices have destroyed the natural ecosystem of the earth and pollution has accelerated and worsened climate change. These changes affect us directly, for example, the deteriorating air quality is causing an array of respiratory illnesses and skin-related allergies.

So what is environmental wellness

Environmental wellness in its true meaning is to live in harmony with your environment. This means living more sustainably and making small changes to your lifestyle so that you contribute less to polluting it. Reducing your carbon footprint is another way to put it.

Living in harmony with your environment can also mean appreciating it and making use of it to achieve personal wellness, like taking walks or interacting more with nature. A morning run in the park or getting some fresh air and instantly lighten up a person’s mood, it also helps clear your mind.

Environmental wellness is very important it not only makes you more aware of your impact on the environment but also gives you a sense of responsibility which encourages a healthier and more suitable lifestyle. It helps u realize that you are part of something bigger and that you can actively contribute to making the world a better place.

How to achieve environmental wellness

Now that we know how important environmental wellness is, let's discuss how we can effectively achieve it, the key is to start small and be persistent. Do not rush yourself into it, changing habits is often hard and rushing into something makes you uncomfortable and may not last long.

1. Educate Yourself

The first step to achieve environmental wellness is to become aware of how your lifestyle may be damaging to the environment. Educating yourself will help you monitor yourself and make relevant changes.

2. Cut down on the excess

I believe the best way to start is cutting down on what you feel is excess in terms of consumption, stopping yourself is easier than building a new habit. One example is reducing your use of plastic, especially single-use plastics. 

3. Walk where you can

Travelling short distances on a vehicle greatly harms the environment. A better alternative would be to start cycling or walking. Both of these options are healthier and much more sustainable. Switching to public transport (if feasible) is also a great option.

4. Reuse and Recycle

Make a habit out of reusing things where possible, like containers to store food or keeping a mug for your coffee. Recycling things is known to be one of the most effective ways to deal with waste; there are many useful resources online that guide beginners on how to start and what to do.

Achieving environmental wellness or even starting to live more consciously is a beautiful journey that gives inner satisfaction. We must protect the earth and let it heal.