Wellbeing TL;DR: The Foundation

Wellbeing is fundamental to health care that is healthy and caring, especially for an Empathetic Scholar®. However, what is wellbeing and how can you incorporate it in your work and service to others?

What is wellbeing? In short, wellbeing is the many flavors of a life well lived: meaning, purpose, passion, personal growth, connection, relationships, service, quality of life, enjoyment, and happiness, to name a few. How are you doing with each of these? Be honest. What needs more of your attention? What would you like to do better?

Additionally, “wellbeing is a direction not a destination.” Therefore, wellbeing is not about always feeling great, rather pursuing all the things that make you come alive. What makes you come alive, in your work and outside of work? How are you doing with these elements of your life? What needs more attention? What would you like to do better?

All in all, wellbeing, a life well lived, is not always easy, it’s worth it. Take some time (I promise you have it) to reflect on the questions above (empirically, writing is most effective). Then commit yourself to the changes your life is calling you towards. It’s worth it!

Craig Keaton, PhD, LMSW

Burnett School of Medicine at TCU Director of Wellbeing