Words matter.

In a recent conversation with a physical therapist friend who lives with chronic illness, she shared that the term “wellness” doesn’t resonate with her—it feels like an impossible state to attain. She prefers “well-being,” explaining that it more accurately reflects how she feels and functions in daily life.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve spoken and written about physician wellness and well-being, often using the terms interchangeably. But that conversation made me pause.

Curious to explore this further, I asked Dr. Tonya Caylor and Nickolai Blinow for their perspectives. Their insights, combined with my friend’s feedback, have changed how I think—and how I’ll speak and write about this topic going forward.

Nikolai Blinow:

In health care, we talk a lot about wellness. Wellness programs, wellness retreats, wellness goals. But for many physicians and high-performing professionals I work with, wellness feels like just one more thing to achieve—another metric to optimize in an already over-optimized life.

That’s why I encourage my clients to shift their focus from wellness to well-being.

Wellness is often seen as a static destination: hitting a target weight, meditating for 10 minutes a day, checking all the boxes of a healthy lifestyle. It’s external, measurable, and sometimes performative. And while these practices can be valuable, they don’t always reflect how someone actually feels in their day-to-day life.

Well-being, on the other hand, is a dynamic state—a lived experience. It’s an ongoing practice of checking in: How am I feeling? What do I need? Do my current behaviors line up with what I say I want for my life? Well-being is less about perfect habits and more about intentional alignment with your values and energy.

For physicians, this distinction matters. When you’re spread thin with patients, focusing on wellness can feel like one more impossible ideal to live up to. But well-being invites curiosity, flexibility, and grace. It creates space for you to recalibrate—without shame—when your needs change.

Focusing on well-being also changes how you show up for your patients. A physician who is attuned to their own well-being is more likely to listen deeply, build trust, and model self-compassion. You’re not just prescribing self-care; you’re embodying it.

And let’s be honest: Many patients don’t need more “wellness tips.” As a behavioral-oriented therapist, I can promise you … telling your patients what they “should” be doing to achieve wellness just isn’t working. They need help reconnecting with themselves. They need permission to slow down and ask, Is this life working for me?

Physicians can lead by example, not by being perfectly well, but by being human—by showing that well-being isn’t a fixed state but a relationship we nurture over time.

If you’re a physician feeling disconnected or depleted, you don’t need a new plan. You need a new perspective. Try asking yourself: How am I doing, really? What would it look like to honor my well-being today—even in a small way?

Wellness may be a goal. But well-being is a practice. And it’s a practice worth prioritizing—for yourself, and for those you serve.

Dr. Tonya Caylor:

Language evolves, and so do we. For many of us in medicine, wellness once seemed like a helpful goal. But during the pandemic, the word started to take on a performative feel, often applied to activities that may or may not have truly helped. Resilience modules, yoga classes, well-intended apps all offered to us, but rarely co-created with us.

That’s why I now use well-being. It’s about being wholly well. It better reflects the depth and complexity of physicians’ lives. It’s not just physical or mental health. It’s relational, emotional, financial, etc. And it’s not an end state. It’s a dynamic way of being, something we return to and reorient around, even in difficult environments.

Well-being also goes beyond the individual. It includes teams and system well-being. It’s about connection, purpose, growth, contribution. It asks not just “Are you surviving?” but, “Do you know you’re valued here?” It includes belonging—the sense that we matter, that we’re seen, that we don’t have to carry everything alone.

I also believe well-being is both a shared responsibility and a shared power. Systems hold most of the levers, 60–80 percent of burnout is driven by structural and occupational forces. But that remaining 20–40 percent still matters. It’s why I coach. We have evidence for its effectiveness! It’s where mindset, emotional intelligence, boundaries, and agency over our environment make a difference. Those individual shifts are huge for the individual, and the system. As Dr. Stuart Slavin reminded me during CHARM’s GME Well-being Leadership course: Every person contributes to the culture they’re in.

And those who invest in their own well-being, who reclaim space, realign with their values, and sustain themselves, build capacity. They have the leadership capital to invest back into their teams and systems. Sometimes, they become the very leaders who drive change.

As many physician well-being leaders have shown (Drs. Colin West, Tait Shanafelt, Kerri Palamara, and the CHARM community among them) language is changing because our understanding is deepening. We’re moving from temporary programs to co-created systems. From individual interventions to collective insight. From surviving to something closer to sustainable thriving.

So no, I didn’t coin the phrase—but I’ll still say it: Well-being is more than the absence of burnout. It’s about Presence. Purpose. Belonging. And Possibility.

Nikolai Blinow is a mental health counselor. Tonya Caylor is a family physician and physician coach. Kim Downey is a physician advocate and physical therapist.