Whole-Person Health: Your Health Is More Than Your Lab Results

I used to be very tired all the time, and there were rational explanations for my tiredness. At first it was work hours, then children, then just the busyness of life. I had an unrevealing wellness check with my primary care doctor. I spoke with my physician friends, took vitamins, joined a gym, subscribed to exercise plans. I tried all I knew, but the tiredness persisted.

I would actually even wake up more tired after sleeping long hours, and I couldn't really show up for my family in the way I would have liked. I actually even became irritable because I was tired all the time. So I tried the next logical thing I knew to do: I cut my working hours down. Perhaps I needed more rest, but I was actually even more tired. It was quite surprising.

Fast forward to today, where I have so much energy. I feel ready to go no matter the number of hours of sleep I get. The other day my watch informed me I had only 4 hrs 44 minutes of sleep that night, but it was great quality and I felt like I slept like a baby. What changed wasn't a metric on a scale or my lab values. It was the lens through which I started to see my health, and that is what I would like to invite everyone into: seeing your health as a whole person.

When You Think About Your Health

When you think about your health, what comes to mind?

• Maybe your blood pressure.
• Your cholesterol.
• Your blood sugar.
• Your weight.
• A diagnosis.
• Your most recent lab results.

These things matter. Medical conditions deserve appropriate care, and objective measures can tell us important things about what is happening in our bodies.

But they don't tell the whole story of your health and wellbeing.

Your health is lived in a life, not just measured in a laboratory.

• How you sleep matters.
• How you think matters.
• What you're carrying emotionally matters.
• Your relationships matter.
• Your environment matters.
• Your work and contribution matter.
• Whether you have room to rest matters.
• And what gives your life meaning matters.

This doesn't mean every difficulty in life is a health problem. And it doesn't mean we should ignore medical science in favor of a vague idea of wellness.

It means we can ask a bigger question:

What does it mean to care well for the whole of my life?

Looking at Health Through Eight Lenses

At VOW Coaching, I think about whole-person health through eight lenses:

• Body
• Mind
• Emotions
• Relationships
• Environment
• Work & Contribution
• Rest
• Meaning & Values

These aren't eight areas you're supposed to perfect. They're not a scorecard. They're not another list of things to feel guilty about. They're simply different places to pay attention.

You may discover that something happening in one area is affecting another. You may realize there is something you've adapted to and stopped noticing. Or you may discover that an area of your life is actually going quite well.

The point isn't to fix everything.

The point is to notice.

In the next article, we'll take a closer look at each of these eight lenses and explore some questions you can use to reflect on your own health and wellbeing.

But there is something I want to put underneath all of them first.

God Loves You

Before we begin examining our lives, I want to begin with something fundamental:

God loves you.

• Not because your labs are good.
• Not because you're disciplined.
• Not because you've reached your health goals.
• Not because you've finally gotten everything together.

God loves you.

That changes the posture from which we look at our lives.

We don't have to examine ourselves because we're trying to prove that we're worthy.

We don't have to turn health into another performance.

We can pay attention because we are already loved.

From that place, we can become curious.

• What is happening in my body?
• What is happening in my mind?
• What am I feeling?
• How are my relationships?
• What is my environment making easier or harder?
• How is my work shaping me?
• Am I making room for rest?
• What matters to me?

And perhaps underneath all of it:

What does it mean to care well for the life God has entrusted to me?

Health Is More Than Fixing What Is Wrong

We often approach health by asking:

What's wrong, and how do I fix it?

Sometimes that's exactly the right question.

But sometimes we need to slow down before we intervene.

We need to notice what is actually happening.

Because we need to see truly to choose truly.

Whole-person health isn't about optimizing every part of your life. It's about becoming more attentive to the life you're actually living, and then having the freedom to consider what, if anything, needs to change.

Sometimes the next step will be action.

Sometimes it will be rest.

Sometimes it will be a conversation.

Sometimes it will be seeking medical care.

And sometimes the first step is simply:

Notice.

Coming Next: The Eight Lenses of Whole-Person Health

In the next article, we'll take a closer look at each of the eight lenses, with questions you can use to pay attention to your own health and wellbeing.