Wachob - Wellth: How I Learned to Build a Life, Not a Résumé

Copyright 2016 by Jason Wachob

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

Harmony Books is a registered trademark, and the Circle colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

This work was inspired by the authors blog, 39 Life Lessons Ive Learned in 39 Years.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wachob, Jason.

Title: Wellth / Jason Wachob.

Description: New York : Harmony, [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2015028567 | ISBN 9781101904480 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Nutrition. | Health. | Food. | BISAC: SELF-HELP /

Personal Growth / Happiness. |SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Success.

|BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General.

Classification: LCC RA784 .W216 2016 | DDC 613.2dc23 LC record available at https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/RKomBxS7QKATQ

ISBN9781101904480

eBook ISBN9781101904497

Cover design by Christopher Brand

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Behind every great man theres a great woman, and for me there are three: to my mother, who always told me I could accomplish anything;to my grandmother looking down from above;and to the love of my life, my wife, Colleen.

__________

WEALTH

noun / \welth\ Derived from the Middle English, welthe: meaning well-being and happiness

: a large amount of money and possessions

WELLTH

noun / \welth\ A new and more valuable life currency

: a life exemplified by abundance, happiness, purpose, health, and joy.

__________

DONT GET ME WRONG. I like money. But theres more to life. Many of us arent satisfied with just trying to grow our bank accounts so we can spend our hard-earned cash on nice, shiny things. The good life is no longer just about the materialinstead, it can be found in a lifestyle that is devoted to mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health. Along with that is the ability to feel happy and comfortable in ones own skin. While many people would include being wealthy when defining a good life, I believe that its time to return to the original definition.

I came up with another word, wellthy, to further emphasize the importance of well-being to you (thy) and to us all. A wellthy existence is one in which happiness is attainable, health is paramount, and daily living is about abundance. Its a life in which work is purposeful; friendships are deep and plentiful; and theres a daily sense of richness or overflowing joy. But since theres no one-size-fits-all definition for a wellthy existence, I hope this book will serve as a guide to help you embark on your own personal journey that is both unique and meaningful.

The first wealth is health.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON, CONDUCT OF LIFE

Like you, Im on a search for a balanced, fulfilling life. Im not a doctor or a healer. Im not a professional athlete or a celebrity. Im not a billionaire, and I didnt come up from abject poverty. I have many lessons to share, but Im not a life coach. And although Ive been to a therapist, Im certainly not one. Instead, Im a regular person who, because of my work in the wellness communityin particular through my website, mindbodygreen.comhappens to know some of the most insightful health and wellness experts in the world. You will meet some of them in these pages, including yoga instructor Kathryn Budig, meditation teacher Charlie Knoles, functional medicine pioneer Dr. Frank Lipman, and relationship expert Dr. Sue Johnson, among others.

Ive learned a lot from these experts and from my own challenging and magical life experiences. At age forty-one, Ive finally achieved some of the most important aspects of a wellthy lifehaving control of my monkey mind, or overactive mental state; being at ease in my body; maintaining a daily sense of balance; having meaningful relationships; and experiencing an overall feeling of abundance and well-being (at least most of the time). Im blessed to have a life and work that are aligned with my values, and a vibrant community that supports me.

Dont get me wrong. Although I have accomplished some of my dreams, Im certainly not perfectfar from it. I found out the hard way that Wall Street can leave you empty; that death can change your life, yoga can save your life, and work is meaningful only when it truly aligns with your values. Ive had plenty of failures, and I know that I will continue to make monumental mistakes. But Ive had an interesting journey, and I hope that youll be entertained by and relate to my adventures. I was a happy-go-lucky, heavy-drinking frat boy and then a successful trader, who gave it all up to become a wellness entrepreneur. Ive gone from being flat broke and depressed to being enlivened by a mission and then raising the capital to pursue it. I spent three years working on mindbodygreen.com in a tiny apartment while my wife supported me. Weve gone from zero to 15 million unique viewers per month and its now a leading media brand in wellness.

Before mindbodygreen.com launched, phrases like mind-body spirit, mind-body soul, and mind-body connection were all pretty common. So why did I call the website mindbodygreen, which wasnt part of the lexicon at that time? And why is mindbodygreen one word and not three?

Whether we like it or not, everything is connected: our minds, our bodies, and our environment. The mind and body are not separate; theyre one. Thats why we could read every book in the self-help section, and follow someone elses rigid rules, but still not have wellth. If were out of touch with the mind or the body, then were not truly healthy because were disconnected from the self. And as youll see in the Ground chapter, the green aspect of wellth is crucial, too. As a city dweller, Ive even found it incredibly important to connect to nature, and that its impossible to live in a healthy manner if we arent aware of the impact of toxins and chemicals on our minds, our bodies, and our environment.

Along with the mindbodygreen experts, I will lead you through the steps to true wellth, starting with the basic physical areas (eat, move), then going to how we earn a living (work); from the way our thoughts shape our experiences (believe), to the importance of finding our flow and passion (explore). Then together well look at the need for a mind-body practice (breathe) and the importance of having friends and a good support system to our emotional health (feel). But you cant be wellthy if your relationships are in ruinthose with others as well as the closest relationship youll ever have: your relationship to yourself. So we explore relationships (love), taking care of our bodies when things go off-track (heal), the importance of gratitude (thank), and how an intimate connection to the earth and nature sustains us (ground). Then I discuss dealing with the most natural of human circumstances, death and grief, and how the knowledge that we all eventually die can inform the way we live. I close the book with a chapter on laughter, because if you cant enjoy yourself, then whats the point?

Its my hope that you, too, can flourish in all aspects of your life. What follows will give you lots of ideas for investing in you and, in doing so, becoming truly wellthy.