Guest Contributor: Nicole Sloane
When people hear the word wellness, many imagine green juices, boutique workout classes, and carefully curated morning routines that start at sunrise. But here’s the thing: real wellness doesn’t need to be flashy or Instagram-worthy—it just needs to work for your life.
Most people don’t need more rituals or routines—they need permission to make things simpler. Because true wellness isn’t about doing more. It’s about making small, intentional choices that support your body, your mind, and your nervous system in everyday moments.
Wellness Begins with Regulation, Not Perfection
Let’s start with your nervous system. Most people are living in a constant state of fight-or-flight—especially high achievers or people-pleasers who are always doing, giving, producing. We think if we just get more organized, more efficient, more disciplined, the stress will go away. But the truth is, your nervous system doesn’t need more pressure. It needs regulation.
Wellness, at its core, is about teaching your body that it’s safe. That might mean grounding yourself with deep breathing, stepping outside for two minutes, or simply closing your eyes and stretching your neck between Zoom calls. These small shifts activate your parasympathetic nervous system—the part that brings you back to calm—and can have a huge ripple effect on your emotional and physical health.
Your Version of Wellness Can Be Quiet
You don’t need to announce your wellness to the world. It can be quiet. Personal. Imperfect. Maybe it’s creating a wind-down routine that helps you sleep better. Maybe it’s switching to decaf after 2 p.m. Or learning to say “no” without a five-paragraph explanation.
Your wellness doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. It just needs to support you.
A Few Practical Ideas to Start With:
Try the 4-7-8 breathing technique when anxiety spikes
Keep a sticky note on your desk that says “check in with your body”
Add one more glass of water to your day—just one
Set a timer and rest without multitasking for 10 minutes
These may seem small, but the small things add up. They compound. They change your baseline from surviving to grounded.
Final Thought
Wellness isn’t about having it all together. It’s about coming back to yourself, over and over again, in ways that are gentle and real. So if you’ve felt like you’re failing at self-care because it doesn’t look like the curated morning routines you see online, this is your permission slip: you’re not failing—you’re just human.
And that’s more than enough.
