Global Wellness Day (GWD) (June. 9, 2018) is a day that is dedicated to helping spread awareness about ways that people can live well around the world.
“In an era where global consumer culture is mostly damaging the concept of childhood, kids are ending up unhappy and unsatisfied. We want to teach children how to integrate wellness practices into their lives on a daily basis and to carry on those practices throughout their lives.” - Belgin Aksoy Berkin, Turkish GWD founder
For 2018, the focus is on kids' wellness, with the goal to decrease depression, obesity rates and future crime rates. This year marks the seventh-annual GWD, and it is the fourth time it is being celebrated internationally.
Education is Key
However, GWD isn't simply about doing something for one day; the motto is "one day can change your whole life," and Belgin Aksoy Berkin, Turkish GWD founder, lived by this motto by working to create and implement a curriculum that will incorporate wellness in the 2018 and 2019 education year.
‘’We go to school from the age of two, hoping that the education system is going to help prepare us for our future,” says Aksoy Berkin, “but...kids never learn in schools the fact that people can’t love others without loving themselves first. Focusing on physical and mental wellness at such an early age is so important that it can even help decrease the worldwide depression and obesity rates, even future crime rates.’’
The 3 Focus Areas
For this wellness project, there are three main goals, or key areas, that are being focused on to improve with the youth around the world.
Self-Love: Practicing this can help the children to let go of unhealthy emotions like blame, anger or shame, while helping them to learn how to accept themselves. This can even work toward fighting of depression that could form.
Breathing: It may seem simple, and it is. But, the impact of assuring that children take a few minutes to really focus on deep breathing can teach them self-control and lower their stress.
Mindfulness: This concept can stretch from being mindful in dietary choices to taking nature walks. The goal for this focus area is to improve the physical and emotional well-being of kids.