The Wellness Industry is Sick…
And, it’s making people sicker.
Does the word “wellness” really mean anything to anyone anymore?
What started as a well-meaning mission to get people to maybe stop smoking and eat healthier, has turned into a mammoth movement backed by a multi-billion dollar industry that is now not so much about getting people well, but more and more about convincing people how unwell they really are… and then selling them the solution.
It’s a Monday morning. I’ve sat and scrolled through Instagram for an inappropriate amount of time while sipping hot coffee and convincing my brain to join me in the land of the living before my toddler bounds out of bed and my baby cries out for me.
I’ve already been reminded, in some way or another, that I’m not moving my body enough, I drink too much coffee (*guilty taking another slurp*), my youngest is one now so I surely should have lost the baby weight and I don’t meditate enough. A few light scrolls, and it’s enough to remind me I’m a waste of space.
Is this Instagram? Or is it a wellness epidemic? And, has anyone really thought this through? Maybe, but also really probably not.
It’s the perfect guise for toxic capitalism and hustle culture. Using language that makes people believe that “wellness” is all about improvement and world-changing movements, when actually all that’s happening is people are getting even more sick, addicted or obsessed. Or, at least, they think they are.
I miss the days when wellness was just, you know, just a bit of the “woo woo stuff”. Remember those days? Your most laid-back friends would introduce you to savasana and cajole you into meditation, whilst being deafened by a gong bath. Who doesn’t love a bit of this? Probably more than we’d like to admit.
But, “wellness” has transformed from innocent and well-meaning into this gargantuan beast, which, with enough indoctrination (thank-you social media), has the potential to provoke your deepest, darkest fears and elicit a whole new level of self-loathing.
We see you and your vagina smelling candles Gwyneth.
From quantum, past life healing, to remote crystal energy therapy to help you experience more pleasure. The wellness industry just keeps coming up with ever more confusing and complex ways to “help” you escape your ordinary and mundane existence to experience greater and greater levels of fulfilment.
But, is it actually delivering on its promises? Or is it just convincing you that you’re not already happy enough, fulfilled enough, skinny enough, having (good) enough sex? And then manipulating you into gaslighting yourself about how you really feel or what you really want. Total and complete wellness isn’t achievable. So by default, you’re always going to need more.
“ Implementing all of these fancy practices into your life are about as likely to help you reach some sort of state of nirvana as they are to keep reminding you that you are inherently broken and you need fixing. And the fixes just so happen to be pretty expensive.
There’s also an unlikely spin-off from the wellness epidemic; spiritual business boss babes who seemingly only drink green smoothies, running businesses from the beach that teach you how to also run a business teaching people how to run a business. Pretty convenient when your wellness-based lifestyle is getting more and more expensive by the day.
So, if wellness is really just about selling wealth, sex and perfection - does that even make it about “wellness”? We think not. It’s just another obligation. Another box to tick and then punish yourself for not ticking on the days when you just don’t feel like it.
Here at TIB, we prefer the term “optimal living”.
Optimal living is less about perfection and the next fix, and more about balance. About humanness. About letting yourself be the messy and contradictory and beautiful human you already are. Do you hate yoga? Great! Do you wake up, jump out of bed and into a chaturanga every day? Also great. Do you work out Monday to Friday at 6am, followed by a green juice and bursts of creative brilliance but then wild it out until 3am on a Sunday morning after pounding your body with one-too-many tequila sunrises? …can we be friends?
Optimal living is about all of it.
It’s about balance (or as close to that as we’ll ever get). There is no perfect state of wellness. So, let’s stop aiming for it. Let’s stop buying into it. Let’s let ourselves exist in the both / and. In that grey area that is humanity. Constant improvement and constant seeking of perfection are two different things.
If you can accept that as you are, right now, is as great as you have ever been and equally you could probably be a bit more hydrated and do more to combat climate change, that’s probably as “well” as you’re going to get.
Let’s stop aiming for wellness, and instead start aiming for acceptance. Small, daily improvements. Doing more of the things that we love that make us happy. Making decisions that contribute to the experiences we want to have instead of taking away from them. Getting really clear about what kinds of experiences and feelings we want to create more of in our lives and then saying yes or no accordingly.
So, less ‘‘wellness’ and more optimal living yea?
What’s up next
