Wellness for you, me and others

The thought of wellness in the home gives one a feeling of wholeness. What would the opposite be? Dullness, dis-ease, toxicity? What should we be striving towards?

Laughter comes to mind. Mirth that is birthed deep inside the gut and trips over itself to erupt from a mouth stretched wide with glee. That translates to wellness, don’t you think? If we only had laughter “falling like rain, then the parched desert earth will grow green again” (apologies to Jacques Brel).



Laughter. Clean air. Precious potable water. Plants. Prayer. Toilets for all. Goodwill to humankind in the form of loving-kindness and soft eyes when we meet.

These wanderings of a 2024-mind are not that much different to any other era. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word wellness hails from the 1650s, yet the striving for a lack of illness dates way back in time. Written records point to Hindu and Chinese healing from 3 000 years before Christ.

The story of the wellness movement as such really began in the 1950s. Living healthily started coming to the fore after the war, probably inspired by the 1948 statement by the World Health Organization: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The Colorado State University describes wellness as having eight dimensions which are all inter-related: emotional, physical, occupational, social, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial. “If any one of these dimensions is neglected over time, it will adversely affect one’s health, well-being, and quality of life.”

Our built environment has its pros and cons. The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) points out that while there have been great advances in engineering, sanitation, building safety, and city planning over the last century, new health risks are also evident: sedentary lifestyles, lack of physical activity, poor diet, stress, social isolation, and environmental degradation.

The GWI’s 2018 report Build Well to Live Well makes a compelling call for wellness real estate and wellness communities. “Our current built environment favours driving over biking, sitting over walking, riding in elevators over using the stairs, texting over face-to-face conversations, and screen time over outdoor recreation. Even as people live longer, more are living lonely, unhealthy, and unhappy lives.” According to World Habitat, 40% of Namibians live in informal settlements and, reports the Namibian Chamber of Environment (NCE), more than half of them lack access to any toilets at all.

The pursuit of wellness for all should be our target, not a mere selfish what’s-in-it-for-me attitude.

Christine Stoman