Women Rising: Empower your well-being through the lens of holistic health & creativity

Life is busy, even chaotic at times. As women, we often juggle multiple roles and responsibilities, falling short when it comes to our own self-care and well-being. This has become the norm. We know we are stretched too thin. But is it really as simple as finding more time for self-care? Is that enough? How do we actually look after ourselves better?

What if there’s more to consider when approaching our well-being as modern women? What if we found ways to understand ourselves as whole beings that help us rise up and take better care of ourselves without it feeling like another thing on our to-do list? 

What if we looked at ourselves through a slightly different lens that empowers us to make choices that feel nurturing and supportive? That don’t have to involve day trips to the spa, girl's weekends, dry January or radical detoxes and health kicks to feel like meaningful steps towards taking better care of ourselves.

What if I told you that all the moving parts of our lives are interconnected? What if I told you that the path to greater well-being and wellness is a holistic approach to life? All of it. The busyness and the chaos, as well as the calm and the stillness? 

The Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Model (BPSS) has emerged as a holistic framework that recognises the interconnected nature of our physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions. It supports the belief that all of these areas of ourselves require consideration and nurturing in order to achieve optimal holistic health and wellness.

Examination of each of these areas personalised to your own unique preferences and personal design can be an empowering and transformative process of self-reflection and awareness as you consider how you respond and make choices in each of these areas. 

For example, I have a natural preference towards the mental and spiritual dimensions. I find most of my life fulfilment, purpose and meaning through increased self-awareness, learning, my work and my creative practice. You may have preferences that lean towards the physical dimension, prioritising nutrition and exercise or the social area, with preferences towards people and social situations.

Understanding this personal bias helps you to become self-aware in situations that may call for you to engage in activities that move you away from your preferences. It helps you to balance decisions and choices to incorporate activities and spend energy on things that help you nurture your whole self and not just your most comfortable self.  

It helps you to recognise that balance is the key to greater well-being and understand that by neglecting one area of yourself, you will create an imbalance in the long term, ultimately reducing overall well-being.

I bet you have situations or obligations in life that are relatively outside of your control. For example, you may have children that relentlessly need your time and attention. Or a demanding job that pulls you from pillar to post when you’re up against a deadline. At times, you may be physically and mentally drained from dealing with these situations. 

So the question you might ask yourself is - how can I replenish my physical dimension knowing that my life’s demands are currently draining this area? Maybe for you, this involves some light exercise, a yoga class or a walk. Or maybe it involves a remedial massage or a hot bath?

And with the mental dimension, you may decide that stillness through meditation or listening to music, taking time to read a book or even holistic counselling, will best support you to replenish your mental health. 

Of course, using these same examples, if most of your time and energy has been focused on physical and mental areas, when was the last time you checked in with your spiritual or social dimensions? 

These are simple examples to illustrate the point, but life is complex, and there are many layers to dig through and uncover as you go on your own holistic wellness journey. 

Instead of just treating symptoms and providing quick patch-overs, holistic health aims to understand the unique needs, preferences and goals of each individual. Combining different self-care practices and complementary therapies together with traditional medicine can provide a more comprehensive and fulfilling approach to holistic health and well-being.

As well as incorporating more obvious holistic health practices, such as meditation, yoga, holistic medicine and counselling, I would also argue one great example of a holistic approach to wellness is developing your own creative or art-making practice or exploring facilitated creative or art therapies. 

Creativity can provide a multi-faceted way to support your well-being holistically. Covering all dimensions in some way through the creative process. Think -

• physical expressive movement through mess-making or sculpting, 
• mental processing of emotions and self-inquiry, as you make creative choices fuelled by your subconscious, 
• Immersing yourself deep enough that you achieve creative flow, helping you connect to your spiritual self, 
• sharing your art and creative process in a social group setting, either in person or online.

Creating layers of personalised, complementary care and support for your holistic health is the key to establishing your own empowering holistic wellness blueprint, unique to you. Taking the time to consider and nurture all areas of your whole self as the foundation for your life is the key to better balance and enhanced well-being without risking burnout and needing to take radical action in order to feel like you are taking care of yourself.

Take care

Sam x

Sam Horton is a professional artist, passionate about the links between art, creativity and well-being.

Learn more about Holistic art practices for well-being

Sam's Art Studio and Studio Shop are based in Australia on the Sunshine Coast.

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