Living Well

Living Well

Living well can positively impact your health outcomes, whether you are living with one or more chronic illnesses, or trying to prevent illness. So, what do we mean by, “living well”?

For most, it’s about being happy, enjoying life; living life without doing harm to your body, mind, or others. It’s living life and loving in a way that allows for achieving our goals, exploring the world, and being the kind of person that your potentials and circumstances will allow.

Living well is the result of the physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental dimensions of our lives. To live well requires we pay attention to all these dimensions. Neglect or support of one over time can negatively or positively affect the others, and ultimately one’s health, well-being, and quality of life.

Living well requires personal awareness and the ability to make good choices that fuel, engage, and nourish our body, mind, and spirit.

Finding Your Way to Living Well

The journey to living well starts with goal setting. To set goals, though, you might need to know more about where you are in each wellness dimension. For most, this might be a little foggy and need a period of observation and assessment. After all, we are creatures of habit.

That’s why COPE offers a Habit Tracker tool you can download and customize. (If you prefer, there are also habit tracker apps you can use.)

COPE’s health library is also a good place to start learning about living well and defining your goals. We also invite you to participate in our educational programs or talk to us about how we can provide one-on-one support along your journey to living well.

The Habit Tracker

With the Habit Tracker, you can first document your current behaviors, and then set daily and weekly goals to track.

Here is a starter list of some habits and behavior categories you might want to assess and possibly change for your plan to greater wellness.

  • Social & emotional support resources

  • Mindfulness

  • Spiritual practice

  • Social media

  • Books

  • Television

  • Music

  • Hobbies

  • Exercise

  • Diet

  • Fluids

  • Medical care

  • Dental care

  • Mental health care

  • Work

  • Spending