Be Well Lead Well® is committed to advancing the consciousness and capabilities for more inclusive, well, and wiser leadership. In support of these efforts, Be Well Lead Well® Director and Wisdom Works CEO, Renee Moorefield curates monthly content and resources for The Wellness Moonshot: A World Free of Preventable Disease, an initiative of the Global Wellness Institute. The goal: to bring together global wellness enthusiasts, from scientists and educators to health experts and business leaders, to eradicate preventable disease worldwide.
Each month, Renee explores wellbeing leadership through the themes of The Wellness Moonshot Calendar. Below is an excerpt from April’s theme, PLAN.
April 2022 | PLAN
Effective planning is essential to leading wellness. It allows you to create an inspiring Wellness Moonshot vision—whether for your country, company, community, or yourself—plus, prepare clear strategies and actions for achieving your wellness goals. When you use wellness planning for the earliest years of life, it also has lifelong consequences on health and wellbeing.
Renee explored the topic of planning through this unique lens with Christine Clinton, a +30-year wellness veteran. Christine is well versed in the new research from neuroscience, epigenetics, and other fields which emphasize that the environments in which human beings are conceived and nurtured shape how the brain develops, how genes are expressed, and the health of our body’s systems. As leader of the Global Wellness Institute initiative, Wellness for Children, she is committed to addressing the health of children to reduce the preventable illnesses and diseases we too frequently experience as adults.
Listen to Renee and Christine discuss why wellness planning is so important before, during, and after human conception.
Planning for the Wellness of Children? Think: Structure!
If you feel like the last few years have thrown your organization, work, or family life (or all three!) into disarray, you aren’t alone. It’s been a chronically stress-inducing time, and particularly so for young people. Now in our third year of the pandemic, we’re witnessing worldwide a record rise in child poverty, setbacks to routine childhood vaccinations, and major losses in learning.
Yet, this disruptive time also contains the potential to reset our priorities toward health and wellbeing. For Christine, this means discovering the structures that make wellness the center of how we live, work, connect, and play. Structure is essential for children: The consistency of routines provides a safe, positive environment for your child’s mental, emotional, and physical development.
Our children are watching the behaviors we role model as adults. So, when it comes to their wellness, being a parent, auntie, or mentor that can stick to a wellness plan—for instance, daily routines for eating well, getting plenty of play and exercise, curbing technology, and experiencing good sleep—is half the battle. Here’s the beauty of winning this fight: The wellness behaviors enhancing the health and vibrancy of your child will enhance your wellbeing, too. Plus, as we invest in nurturing the next generation, we are not only investing in a world free of preventable disease; we’re cultivating a world which is more inclusive, secure, and well for us all.
