I was introduced to the term glow-up by one of my teachers. He described it in gaming terms, leveling up an avatar strategically and purposefully. This resonated with me, as it parallels our personal and professional journeys. Real-life growth requires intentional action and the courage to take it. Reflecting on a glow-up in emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual terms opened up endless possibilities for self-improvement.
These four aspects of ourselves act as balancing pillars. Maintaining them can be challenging yet incredibly rewarding. In this article, I’ll share personal insights and several exercises and activities to inspire your glow-up journey.
Emotional glow-up involves handling life's milestones and challenging situations with grace, compassion, and honesty.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, outlines a code of conduct that includes these four principles: "be impeccable with your word", "do not take anything personally", "do not make assumptions", and "always do your best". It asks us to make these four agreements with ourselves which can promote clarity, integrity, and reduced reliance on external validation.
This test is insightful and validating, the Meyers-Briggs Personality Test provides a framework for understanding and navigating our emotions. It provides insights into how we process information, make decisions and interact with the world through increased self-awareness and empathy, relationship building and personal growth and development.
Another all-time favorite book is The Artist Way by Julia Cameron. One of her many exercises asks us to journal three pages daily. The journal can be a small paper with three lines on each sheet or huge pages; it does not matter. Do not judge, just let it flow wherever it wants to go. Don’t re-read for at least three to six months. The idea is to express yourself the way self wants to.
This one is easy and quick. Name three things you are grateful for daily.
"Making emotions work for you instead of against you." -EQ Applied
Mental glow-up centers on consciousness and intentionally choosing our mindset. Like a muscle, mental discipline grows stronger with regular use.
Amy C. Edmondson’s strategies in her Harvard Business Review article, Strategies for Learning from Failure, provides a practical framework to sharpen mental acuity by learning constructively from experiences. She outlines a spectrum of reasons for failure:
Deviance: An individual chooses to violate a prescribed process or practice.
Inattention: An individual inadvertently deviates from specifications.
Lack of Ability: An individual doesn’t have the skills, conditions, or training to execute a job.
Process Inadequacy: A competent individual adheres to a prescribed but faulty or incomplete process.
Task Challenge: An individual faces a task that is too difficult to execute reliably every time.
Process Complexity: A process composed of many elements breaks down when it encounters novel interactions.
Uncertainty: A lack of clarity about future events causes people to take seemingly reasonable actions that produce undesired results.
Hypothesis Testing: An experiment conducted to prove that an idea or design will succeed, fails.
Exploratory Testing: An experiment conducted to expand knowledge and investigate a possibility leads to an undesired result.
She maps these on a spectrum from “blameworthy” to “praiseworthy.”
Set aside time every week or daily to read and learn new skills.
And lastly, Mental Detox. Reduce social media consumption by setting strict time boundaries.
"You have two choices: to control your mind or to let your mind control you." -Paulo Coelho
My father influenced my perspective on physical glow-up. He consistently prioritized physical activity, demonstrating its benefits through his example. My favorite memories include jogging together to play racquetball, then jumping into a hot tub, followed by jumping into a cold pool. Jogging home was a challenge because our legs felt like rubber bands and we laughed about it.
Regular physical activity significantly enhances our emotional, mental, and spiritual health. We all have seen the studies that state that physical activity protects the mind and body from disease. It helps us sleep better, want to eat better, reduce stress and increase energy levels.
Start with 30 minutes of activity. Whatever activity you choose, make sure it's something you genuinely enjoy doing. Learn new activities, do something different every day to keep it fresh. Use challenges to keep yourself engaged.
Here is one of my favorite mind tricks. No matter how little time you have, commit to doing one minute of whatever activity you choose. Then you can tell yourself you do it every day. This creates an anchor that becomes a habit.
Listen to your body. Take time during your day to actively listen to what your body is telling you. Ask it what it needs. Do not put it into words at first; take time to cultivate this dialogue. Your body will guide you on what to eat, how much sun to get, when to rest and so much more.
“Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states.” -Carol Welch
Feeling aligned with your purpose, paying attention to your spiritual nature has a measurable influence on how we conduct ourselves. While all of these aspects of Self dovetail into one another, the spiritual aspect can move mountains within ourselves.
A spiritual glow-up involves aligning our actions and decisions with our core values. Brené Brown’s value-identifying exercise helps clarify personal priorities by guiding individuals through selecting and defining their core values.
Create a Spiritual Camera to capture moments of alignment and joy, and then take time to go back through the years and acknowledge all the pictures you have already taken with your Spiritual Camera. Assemble these images into a Spiritual Picture Album that you can revisit at any time, letting each snapshot remind you of your journey and growth.
This process of reflection has always resonated with me, and many books have deepened my contemplation of the spiritual self. One of my favorites is The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. In particular, his writing on The Children stands out as it beautifully speaks to the innocence, wisdom, and transformative power of the young. It feels like a perfect complement to the idea of capturing those pure moments of alignment in our spiritual albums.
“May I be so bold as to offer you a gift? If I may, read on. I gift you with the courage to be, to know deeply the divine design of your life.” –Jean Houston