What does wellbeing actually mean and why should I be thinking about it?

Wellbeing is one of those words that we hear a lot about in society today, but some of us are not sure what that actually means. To be fair, wellbeing has many definitions depending on your perspective and community. At Columba, we take wellbeing to mean 'feeling good and functioning well'.

If someone isn’t feeling good or functioning well, this is usually due to something affecting your hauora. Hauora is a word that describes our physical, mental, spiritual and social health. If even one of those four things is suffering, that means our whole wellbeing will be affected negatively. It’s very normal to feel like this from time to time, but it is important that we look after ourselves to try and restore our hauora.

Looking after yourself is not a selfish thing. In fact, it’s the opposite. When you look after your own wellbeing, you are in a much better position to support and help others. We are also much more likely to succeed and reach our goals if we have high levels of wellbeing. Not to mention, looking after ourselves fits well within Columba’s values of GRACE:

Good Discipline - Working on your hauora and personal goals takes self-discipline

Respect - Looking after yourself shows respect for self as well as others

Aroha - Loving ourselves means we are better able to show love and care for others

Citizenship - Part of enhancing wellbeing is increasing your involvement in the community and helping others

Excellence - When we feel good and function well, we can better reach our personal excellence.

So how can you start restoring your hauora? Check out the 5 Ways to Wellbeing methods, and feel free to talk with your Health teacher, Form teacher or even book a confidential session with one of our school counsellors. We will also be sharing more notices and resources in the newsletter, and there is a Wellbeing Google Classroom in the making that will be available to all students soon, so stay tuned!