WELL-ROUNDED
Back in high school, I was smart…
I was the student who turned in assignments on time, studied for tests, and always did the extra credit. I took every hard class and had to receive an A in all of them. My scholastic goals were achieved by teaching myself how to study and becoming a quick memorizer. In essence, I was smart…book smart, or more appropriate school smart?
In consequence, my one-sided knowledge left me feeling like I was going to tip over. I understood math, science, english, and history, but what I began to understand is that life is so much more. Evidently, “super student” needed to change into “life learner” because I wasn’t going to be an enrolled student forever. My favorite thing now is knowing that I get to choose what I want to learn about and how in-depth I want to go. Beforehand, I was stuck in such a small bubble that I didn’t know that I could learn about other things let alone that I really wanted to.
In reflection, I recognized that I wasn’t becoming the best version of myself. I became the best version of “super student”, but I wasn’t being taught or giving myself a well-rounded education. Now, I am not saying that I want to lock myself in a dark candle-lit room and commit myself to become an academic. Actually what I am saying is I want to be conscious of all things and all topics; I want to be able to talk to anyone about anything and appreciate the value of the conversation. I simply want to be the best me I can be.
8 CATEGORIES
All in all, the purpose of this blog is to have somewhere I can catalog what I know and what I learn in the hope that someone else can sympathize too. In short, I’ve had questions in the past that I didn’t know where I could receive an answer. It seems that I can search one question and find a related post, blog, or podcast, but as soon as I ponder a new question it’s on to the next post, blog, or podcast until I have 20 tabs open and 20 new sources.
I wanted a place where I could find information on multiple topics. I wanted a site that I could go to as if I were going to a friend or sister, and know that I could find sound advice. With a little disappointment, I wanted, but I couldn’t find, so I am creating it myself.
I want to uncover AND discover the things that we should know to be our best well-rounded selves. On the other hand, I know it is unfathomable to think about all the possible information we don’t know and overwhelming to know where to start. As a result, and to make it as uncomplicated as possible, everything (literally everything) can fall into these 8 categories:
PHYSICAL
SPIRITUAL
SOCIAL
EMOTIONAL
INTELLECTUAL
FINANCIAL
OCCUPATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
Each category contributes to who we are and what we know or understand. For example, some people are gym rats, some social butterflies, and others book worms. We excel in certain categories and have preferences based on our personalities and interests. However, I know each category is vital to our personal health and overall wellness.
It is interesting to note that having a well-rounded base of knowledge directly affects our health and how we live. Physical health is our bodies, financial health is our means to live, environmental health is the conditions of where we live, and so on and so on.
Furthermore, our emotions are tied to everything. Finances are stressful, social situation cause anxiety, nutrition is frustrating, and mental health is everything in one. It is HARD to manage when everything affects everything else. In simple terms, even though we have inescapable emotions, we want to improve our health and wellness by becoming our best well-rounded selves.
My goal is to make life as simple and effortless as possible. One of my fears is living a life weighed down by constant worry and stress. I don’t want that; I want a life that I am so excited to wake up to when I go to bed at night. A life where I can see my growth and be proud of where I’ve been and where I am going. I want all of that and more for you too. I hope you can count on me as your friend, as someone to look to for the many things we face in life.
Let’s get started!!
xxx Karlie