Join a Year of Wellness and Action

I recently completed the Gallup Strengths Finder exercise and was not surprised to find “learner” listed among my Top 5 personal strengths. I love to learn!

This academic year, I’d like us to take the opportunity to learn together and enrich our health literacy through thoughtful action. I am launching a new initiative — A Year of Wellness and Action — to build community and promote health and wellbeing in diverse ways.

Over the course of the year, we will focus on bimonthly themes. Each theme kicks off with a 21-day personal challenge. During these challenges, I will take time to learn, reflect and/or take action in alignment with the theme — and I invite you to do the same.

The themes are:

• Social and Cultural Health | September & October
• Mental Health | November & December
• Intellectual Health | January & February
• Physical Health | March & April

We will curate lists of resources, sample activities, and forums for conversation during each of the four themes, and everyone is encouraged to tailor the process to their own journeys in health, literacy, and taking new action steps.

For example, the 21-day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge, adapted from www.eddiemoorejr.com/21daychallenge, is one possible approach during the Social and Cultural Health theme months. Dedicated readings or professional development activities in alignment with EDI-related performance review goals may also be a great fit for your September-October challenge.

In January, I intend to read and discuss poetry for the Intellectual Health. Others might consider focusing on financial literacy during that theme.

This is a completely voluntary initiative and simply an idea for us to expand our understanding of health in a focused way. I hope it will help us to grow and learn individually and also nurture authentic connections with one another by sharing “aha moments” and promoting gratitude by recognizing our colleagues when they teach us something new.

A collection of resources for the Social and Cultural Health theme are now available here. More resources will be added to this page throughout the coming two months. Add to the conversation, and suggest additional resources, by joining Pacific's Wellness Challenges Google Group. (Go to groups.google.com, choose "all groups," then scroll to find the Wellness Challenge and join. Once you've joined, you'll be able to send and receive messages to the group at wellnesschallenges@groups.pacificu.edu.)

We currently are looking for volunteers to compile and organize resources for the future themes this year. Volunteers would work with a partner to round up articles and activities — particularly from Pacific authors, researchers and experts among our faculty, staff and alumni community — specific to a particular theme. Volunteers also may help collect feedback and learnings from participants and facilitate sharing of those learnings.

If you are interested in helping with a particular theme, or have resources to share, please email WellnessChallenges@groups.pacificu.edu.