Are We in a Wellbeing Recession?

Typically a recession is declared when a nation’s economy experiences significant contractions in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over an extended period of time. Indicators used to establish this include the value of goods and services produced, personal income and spending.

But these are very blunt tools, linked more to the Quantity of ‘stuff’ we have rather than the Quality of our lives. What if we were to view recessions by measuring contractions in the latter rather than the former? After all, surely the quality of our lives is more important than the quantity of stuff we have. What might that look like? I put forward the following framework to help us think about this.

If we were in a wellbeing recession then, we might expect to see the following:

Mentally we could see a contraction in creativity, imagination and innovation with a downward slide towards greater levels of stress, anxiety and depression.

Emotionally we might see more unhappiness, sadness and anger.

Physically we may experience a greater tendency towards bad habits, unhealthy living and illness.

Spirtually people would feel less meaningful, purposeful, pride and fulfilment.

Socially we would see greater isolation and loneliness and less trust, teamwork and support.

Culturally there might be greater conflict, with tensions around diversity and inclusion of minorities.

Environmentally our spaces and places, including the planet, would be degrading rather than flourishing.

And, finally, economically we would experience less fairness with widening gaps in levels of prosperity.

Of course, just as with financial measures, wellbeing is dynamic and can go up and down over time. But surely these are better measures to track. The great thing is we can use a framework like this to track the quality of our lives across individuals, organisations, communities and even nations. So, what do you think?

• Is your country in a wellbeing recession?

Here at Improveon we offer the following services to help individuals, teams and organisations manage and climb out of a wellbeing recession.

• Personal coaching
• Team coaching
• Wellbeing Mastery for Leaders
• Wellbeing Design for Business
• Wellbeing speaking

Get your free preview of The Age of Wellbeing – A new leadership model for a happier world. Find out more about the CANBE Wellbeing Model and how it can help us improve our lives both individually and collectively.

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