New Meaning in Wellbeing

Conversations around wellbeing are everywhere. Employee wellbeing is top of mind for employers. There is great concern for the wellbeing of our children and people of all ages as we navigate a post-pandemic world. The wellbeing of humanity in the digital age, the social media age, through climate crisis…, the wellbeing of society on the brink of recession and grappling with the need for sustainability and inclusivity. 

Our overall “wellbeing” matters. But what does that really mean?

As I was thinking about the meaning of wellbeing it dawned on me that we use the term in so many ways and I’ve generally thought about it as a term to describe the state of our wellness, health, and life needs. Oxford dictionary defines it as the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy. And maybe as it is used so pervasively today, that definition has served its purpose enough. Our wellbeing at this level does matter but maybe it’s leaving something out that we could benefit from understanding when we think of wellbeing.

I’ve never really thought about what is contained within the compounded words of well-being until this week. Breaking it down into well and being revealed a much greater—and deeper—meaning for me beyond how we think of it today.

Looking at well alone brings to mind connotations of depth, inward, digging deep to find life force (water). Put that with being and I see our wellbeing as more than a surface term with ambiguous application for comfort and health. For me, “wellbeing” conjures a sense of depth of being. 

Wellness is the depth of our being–body, mind and spirit. 

This new meaning better captures the magnitude of how we use the word, wellbeing, in today’s conversations. And I think it's worth reorienting our understanding to this new meaning when we think about the wellbeing of our employees, of our children, of people–and of society. 

I believe the deeper we go in our search within ourselves to look at how we’re doing as people, in our discovery of how the people around us are doing, and in our desire to understand the state of the world’s “wellbeing” the more likely we are to connect meaningfully there, deep in the depths of our being.