Love this writing! I feel like the marketing of "wellness" makes it feel like another thing we "need to succeed at" and therefore, if we feel stressed or yuck, it becomes something we "failed" at. I also see why this would stop people from volunteering... it reminds me of how I was saying to my partner that, if I don't feel 100%, it's harder to reach out to friends. I think an unfortunate side-effect of practicing "wellness" is that we feel like we need to show up (to life) perfectly and if we feel shit, we have to fix it so we can show up... the irony being that actually interacting with eachother (no matter how imperfect we show up) is actuality what's going to heal and help our relationships... and ourselves 🙃
Wellness used to mean socializing... seeing friends... touching grass... it wasn't something you had to do alone, capitalism/consumerism has marketed wellness as another burden that falls solely on the shoulders of the individual and so it's unsurprising the pursuit of wellness makes us feel alone and, if we feel less that perfect, unworthy of partaking in society.
Love this writing! I feel like the marketing of "wellness" makes it feel like another thing we "need to succeed at" and therefore, if we feel stressed or yuck, it becomes something we "failed" at. I also see why this would stop people from volunteering... it reminds me of how I was saying to my partner that, if I don't feel 100%, it's harder to reach out to friends. I think an unfortunate side-effect of practicing "wellness" is that we feel like we need to show up (to life) perfectly and if we feel shit, we have to fix it so we can show up... the irony being that actually interacting with eachother (no matter how imperfect we show up) is actuality what's going to heal and help our relationships... and ourselves 🙃
Wellness used to mean socializing... seeing friends... touching grass... it wasn't something you had to do alone, capitalism/consumerism has marketed wellness as another burden that falls solely on the shoulders of the individual and so it's unsurprising the pursuit of wellness makes us feel alone and, if we feel less that perfect, unworthy of partaking in society.
Excellent.