Imagine a healthy you

What does it feel like to be the healthiest version of yourself? Putting together a personal wellness vision can help you find out

Create

your own wellness vision

Knowing what to do for your diabetes care and doing it are sometimes two very different things. Just ask Stephanie Brown, who has type 2. Two years ago, Brown was overwhelmed by her day-to-day diabetes care tasks: she frequently forgot to take her evening medications, ate large portions and had trouble planning her meals.

At the suggestion of her diabetes educator, Brown created a personal wellness vision to help her find her motivation.

“I painted a vivid picture of how I wanted to show up in the world,” she says. To create her vision, Brown tapped into what matters most to her. She realised she wanted to live with self-awareness and take pride in living a healthy life. She valued being a role model to her children and grandchildren and spending active time with them. Here is the vision she created: ‘I enjoy eating healthily and exercising. I’m comfortable in my clothes and enjoy spending time outside. I’m confident that I’m taking care of myself, and I look good. I have energy. I spin on my heels and feel like a million bucks. My diabetes is in good control because I’m actively engaged in my health care.’

Writing out her personal wellness vision gave Brown a clear and motivating picture of being healthy, feeling energised and living a healthy life. “It was the first time that I was clear on what I wanted,” she says.

Brown now understands that staying on track with her health goals isn’t a simple matter of having a good plan and doubling down on willpower – it’s about having an established vision of what she wants. “A wellness vision allows you to focus on you,” she says. “It becomes easier to say no to things that creep into your life and have the power to derail you from your goals.”

Brown’s vision guides all of her decisions around planning meals, taking her medications, fitting in exercise, packing snacks and beyond. “Today, everything still centres around that vision,” she explains.

The personal wellness vision still hangs on her refrigerator, nearly two years after she first created it. “It keeps me motivated to continue my health journey without getting frustrated and quitting, which had been my prior behaviour,” she explains.

There’s also proof in the numbers. The goals and behaviour changes born of Brown’s wellness vision have brought her HbA1c down from 64mmol/mol to 44mmol/mol.

Ready to try it yourself? Turn the page to create your own personal wellness vision. ➤