The Truth About Wellness

When we get started on our own path of wellness, one that leads us to better versions of ourselves who are happier,  more healthful and more grounded, we often think that wellness is a destination.

Someplace that if we work hard enough, read the right books, eat the right way, meditate every day, manage our stress and nurture our inner selves we will arrive at and be blissfully untouched upon a safe pedestal forever more. 

But this is one of the biggest lies that you can be told (and we are often told by wellness gurus). It’s never as simple as ‘if you do this, eat that, sign up to this, follow this roadmap, you will live happily ever after’. 

It’s a lie because wellness is a journey. It’s an ongoing adventure of ups and downs and steps forward and back. It is a commitment that you make to yourself to do your best, and invest in yourself and your self worth. We all get sick, no matter how healthful, we all get injured, no matter how fit, we all encounter tragedy that throws us through the ringer no matter how aligned and soulful we are.

This is life. This is normal. This is what makes us human.

But it is in these moments when things appear dark (your third day in bed with the worst flu you’ve ever had, your head in your hands wondering how you’ll ever cope after receiving terrible news, or crying in your car after a fight with your boyfriend) that you become aware of how far you’ve come. You realise how much your wellness journey has already taught you. You realise that you are stronger than you were before, and that you have lifted yourself through challenges and made it, and you can do it again.

Your pain, your discomfort, your ill health can then all be seen as lessons for you; lessons that you can overcome.

When we’re working towards the best versions of ourselves, it can never be simple. Our paths diverge and take us on detours we never anticipated, some blissful and some heartbreaking. Through these detours and challenges we are able to learn more about our true selves and how to appreciate what we have and all that we have already accomplished.

So darling, if you are going through a setback, or a particularly rough moment, I’m sending you love and gently reminding you that it will pass. You are not a failure. You have a strength within you greater than you know that will guide you back on your path when you are ready. And don’t fall into the trap; wellness is a journey, not a destination.

Take a new perspective.