For people of a certain age, the word 'wellness' is sort of grating to the ear.
We never grew up with it.
We honestly can't recall ever hearing anyone say 'wellness' in any conversation – not 'How is your wellness?', not 'My wellness is not the best.', not 'You should take better care of your wellness.'
We think the absence of the word 'wellness' in our memory banks is simply because it probably never existed until recent years. If it did exist in the past, it certainly wasn't used very much.
Now, however, 'wellness' seems to be everywhere.
Despite that omnipresence, we think 'wellness' is a goofy k
ind of word. It's a word that a nameless healthcare bureaucrat probably found somewhere, and it spread like a virus.
As far as we can tell, 'wellness' just basically means 'health' or 'healthy', but expressed in a curious and odd-sounding way
Perhaps some healthcare professional would be able to offer us a distinction between the words 'wellness' and 'health', but that would be of no use to us. The word 'wellness' means 'health', and you cannot convince us otherwise.
The word 'health' is multipurpose and it can cover a wide range of things – physical health, mental health, spiritual health and more.
We know what 'health' means, but we're kind of hazy on why the word 'wellness' even exists and why it is so often used along with 'health' as if there are two distinct states of feeling healthy.
It's kind of confusing, even though you would think that health professionals would want to be crystal clear in what they say.
Even a check of Google seems to back up our argument that 'wellness' simply means 'health'.
The Google definition of 'wellness' is: "The state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal."
And our favourite reference on language – The Canadian Oxford Dictionary – agrees with us. Its definition of wellness is: "The state of being well or in good health."
We rest our case.
We were reminded of our distain for the word 'wellness' last week while doing a story about the first-annual Color Me Muddy Fun Run on Sept. 8.
It is being presented by the Health and Wellness Foundation of Hay River.
The organizers say that most people still refer to the Health and Wellness Foundation of Hay River by its previous name – the Hay River Hospital Foundation.
May we offer the opinion that the popular fondness for the organization's previous name is because it is clear and concise. On the other hand, the new name has that weird word 'wellness' in it.
This rant against 'wellness' has at least one positive aspect. It's a chance to talk about the Color Me Muddy Fun Run.
We would encourage people to get out and participate in the event, which sounds like a whole lot of fun.
It might also do great things for your physical health, your mental health and maybe even your spiritual health.
If those things are covered, whether the Mud Run is good for your 'wellness' is completely irrelevant.