Rethinking Wellness

I used to think wellness meant eating your veggies, taking bubble baths, working out, and FITTING IN. These things are great for your overall health, but they won’t make you happy.

I grew up overweight, I was picked on for how I looked, put on strict diets at home, and overall I was a bit of a loner. I cut my hair, was picked on for that as well, and essentially I looked very different than the societal view of beauty. Once I became a young teen I started to slim down, puberty helped me a lot with that, and it boosted my confidence! However, my hair was short, which was not seen as cool, and eventually I’d changed to fit in. I grew my hair out, embraced more feminity, and tried to fit in with the crowd, but it didn’t make me happier.

Around the same time I decided I wanted to work out more, and I started doing MMA. This boosted some confidence, however I didn’t much care for the fact that my body was ALWAYS sore! The fact that on top of attending high school I had to constantly make time to do this was absolutely draining. I was not motivated to go, but knew I had to attend because my family was paying for it, and it was an activity I did with my aunt. I ended up stopping this after about 3 months, I got a lung infection and never decided to go back.

I did discover however, that I actually enjoyed working out by playing “Just Dance” and “Dance Dance Revolution”. Why does no one talk about that? Staying fit and being healthy doesn’t have to be a chore! It was crazy to me that I could break a sweat without feeling like I cannot breathe, and actually enjoy it! It clicked for me, that I was doing something that was physically good for my body, but something I enjoyed, which helped both my body and mind!

Some other habits I fell into were escapism, I would take a bath, listen to music, read a book, play a game, or watch a movie when I was not doing well mentally. These do seem like healthy habits, and to an extent, they can be, but you cannot fix your problems by ignoring them. A bubble bath is not your counsellor and neither is animal crossing, distracting from reality doesn’t change what your reality is. This doesn’t necessarily mean that these are bad things to do, but becoming dependent on them will not help the source of your problems.

Healthy eating is considered one of the most important things we can do for our mind and body. Which is absolutely true, I started a vegan diet four years ago and never looked back, however with that, there were always a lot of “health gurus”. For a while I was very strict about only eating whole plant foods and eating high carb low fat (the forks over knives diet). The issue I had with this was that I could not eat out with family and friends or eat those delicious comfort foods that gave me a serotonin boost.

With all of the things I mentioned here, true wellness is about balance. Get some physical activity, but enjoy it. Eat healthy, but don’t deprive yourself. Have hobbies, but don’t obsess over them. Find ways to escape, but don’t forget where you are. Spend time with those you love, do the things you love, discover what wellness means to YOU.

Thank you for reading!