The Importance of Yield Signs in Maintaining Wellness and Balance

June 8, 2011

Yield signs, we’ve all seen and probably ignored those point-down equilateral triangles. Yield signs are important on the roadways to regulate traffic flow. They require one person to slow down and give the “right of way” to another in order to prevent accidents and maintain balance in traffic flow. Given that, it is essential to recognize times in ours lives when yielding is beneficial to sustaining and enhancing wellness and balance.
We live in a time-sensitive, highly scheduled, technology driven, and overly stimulated society. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans between the ages of 25-54 spent an average 24-hour workday in 2009 on the following activities:

• 8.7 hours working or in work-related activities,
• 7.7 hours sleeping,
• 2.6 hours doing leisure and sports activities, and
• 1.3 hours caring for others, including children
• 2.2 hours doing household work and eating
• 1.5 hours on other activities

While many of us would probably disagree with the distribution of times indicated above, it would appear that most Americans are busy doing something 16.3 hours a day (assuming you get 7.7 hours of sleep). With every moment accounted for, how do you ensure that you are living a life of optimal wellness and balance?
Let’s look at the five components of wellness. When it comes to wellness, most people only think about their physical body. However, mental, emotional, spiritual, social/environmental healths are integral to the total well-being of a person.
• Mental Health the ability to learn and grow intellectually.
• Emotional Health is the ability to deal with, cope with and control emotions so that you feel comfortable expressing them in an appropriate and suitable manner.
• Spiritual Health refers to issues in rightness, order, and belief to a higher being (God) and what you believe.
• Social/Environmental Health is the ability to interact well with people and the surrounding environment, to have accommodating interpersonal relationships
• Physical Health is the actual fitness and condition of the body. It takes into consideration two things, medical health and physical fitness.
Being mindful of your needs in each of the above areas of wellness will help you know when and where to yield in one area in order to grow in another. Listening, yielding, and maintaining a strong sense of personal balance will help you develop a life of optimal wellness.