Hi Warrior! Welcome to my first official post in the Dimensions of Wellness Series. If you aren’t new around here, you know that I bang on about these often. Like all. The. Time. And while I have a general overview post and one that describes how to use these for goal setting, it’s time to dive into these a bit deeper.
Dimensions of Wellness Overview
If you are new to the concept of Dimensions of Wellness, here is a quickie primer: The Dimensions of Wellness models assume that health and wellness are different. Health is the absence of illness or injury, while wellness refers to the active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more healthful life. The Dimensions of Wellness models segment or divide the stuff of life into broad categories. There are many different models, each listing a slightly different number of dimensions and giving slightly different definitions to them.
However, the models all share some very important common features. First, many different areas of health are accounted for, not just simply Physical Health. We tend to focus there, and lately Mental Health, but there are more spots for injury or illness to show up in life. Second, in these models, it is assumed that illness, injury, or health has a spillover effect. In other words, the relative health status of a particular dimension is not isolated to just that dimension. Strong Mental Health practices can and will carryover into the Physical, Emotional, Social, Environmental, and Occupational Dimensions. Conversely, illness or struggles will also affect those other areas.
So, now that the basics are out of the way, let’s jump into some specifics. Physical and Mental Health get a lot of airplay, so I thought I’d start this series with some of the lesser talked about Dimensions. Today’s post is going to focus on Occupational and Vocational Health.
Defining the Occupational and Vocational Dimension
Most of us work in some capacity or another. In some cases, this is a true occupation, a job that we (at least pre-COVID) leave the house to do in exchange for a paycheck. In other cases, this falls under a more vocational definition. Typically that calls to mind religious implications, but it is more straightforward than that. A vocation is a calling, mission, or purpose for life. The classic example I can give here is a stay at home parent.
Many of us have responsibilities that fall under both. In my life, I teach part time. My occupation, for which I get paid. I also am caregiver for my family, my vocation. And I have this little blog, for which I feel an immense purpose to do but I am still working on monetizing.
The point here, is that Occupational and Vocational Health encompass all those things that effect our feelings of purpose and sense of contribution. Common things under this Dimension include: job availability, security, and satisfaction; opportunity; direction; sense of purpose; and other care responsibilities.
Occupational Health
Some of these are much more tangible. Job availability, for instance. Depending on where you live and your training and qualifications, jobs may be relatively easy or difficult to find. Job security falls in line with that, too. If you have one of a few possible jobs in your field and the company you work for downsizes, life gets tough very quickly. And I think all of us have had a job that was low on the satisfaction meter at some point or another.
Those stresses affect your health. If you have a great job that you love and it isn’t going anywhere, then life seems easier. But if you are struggling to find employment or are working that job solely because you need the paycheck, life feels heavier.
Health in this Dimension gets stickier when you consider things like opportunity and direction. When opportunity is lacking, whether it is for an occupation or vocation (fertility struggles, for example), we feel those struggles deep in our bones. Decisions about where to move to maximize job availability or fertility treatment options are very weighty.
This becomes even more jarring when intersectionality comes to play. For individuals living in low income areas, availability and opportunity are often harder to come by. And it takes much more effort to lift out of that. Ditto for anyone seeking employment that may be discriminated against due to gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, creed, or ability. Direction and sense of purpose often take a back seat to the pure need to pay bills and make ends meet.
Vocational Health
When a sense of purpose isn’t able to be met, we feel as though our lives have no meaning. And that can spiral very quickly downwards. However, we when are able to at least partially meet a sense of purpose, then we feel fulfilled. This blog is a big part of my sense of purpose and I fretted over it for a long time before I finally put fingers to keyboard almost four (!) years ago. I struggled over my sense of self and belonging and when I finally started, it didn’t matter that it wasn’t (or still isn’t) perfect, up to the standards of other content creators, or that I wasn’t getting paid; I was doing something in line with my purpose and it felt sooooo good.
Sometimes that need for purpose can be met by volunteering. Many take on roles in the community by becoming coaches or leaders. Sometimes a hobby that you chose to dedicate a certain amount of time to fills the void. Each of us is different, but we each have a need to feel purposeful.
Whether for kids or older adults, caregiving duties are something that most of us take on at one point in our lives or another. If these things are in line with your sense of purpose and direction, they can be wonderfully rewarding experiences. However, these can sometimes be double edged swords. Being a stay at home parent and focusing all your time and energy on someone else is difficult and draining at times. Caring for an elderly member of your tribe can be depressing.
Occupational and Vocational Health are dependent upon many factors, some outside of our control. While choices are not always easy and options may not be plentiful, it is important to understand your own sense of purpose and direction to optimize health in this Dimension.
Until next time, be well friends!
