Healing Is Older Than the Internet: Our Collective Wellness Burnout

I know I'm not the only one who's feeling it because I see it pop up on social media and I'm having this conversation with friends in real life frequently.

Frequently, it seems you know, related to like, it's like a post-COVID crash.

COVID just intensified everything, right? And it turned many people toward wellness.

I'm going to talk about that word in a minute.

And we all changed in some way during those couple years, right? And for many people, it was like, okay, how can I take better care of myself? This all seems a little off what I'm seeing like in mainstream medicine right now.

And of course, many of us, many of us were interested in wellness, natural healing, herbalism, et cetera, since decades before COVID.

But I am seeing now what this crash and burn that seems to be happening right now feels related to what happened during COVID, like intensity followed by intensity.

Wellness.

I hate that that word has this negative connotation for so many people now, including for me.

because we all want wellness.

I want to be well.

I want my children to be well.

I want those I love to be well.

I want everyone to be well.

I remember when I started working at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op in January of 2005, I was hired in the wellness department, which until the month I was hired had been called HABA, H-A-B-A, Health and Beauty Aids, or some people said Health and Body Aids.

And my friends worked at Trader Joe's at the same time, and they also switched from calling that department HABA to calling it wellness.

And so it's just kind of funny.

Like, I remember the moment that the natural food stores, and I'm sure other grocery stores did it at the same time or immediately after, started embracing that word wellness and how that felt, you know, just like a more welcoming place.

word that sort of nailed it better than health and beauty aids.

And here we are 20 years later and everyone's burnt out.

wellness because turns out I don't know what percentage of it but the huge percentage of it at least half I would say if not more has turned out to not really contribute to anyone's wellness and a lot of us are questioning things that we believed for a long time and I especially feel for people like me who experienced catastrophic burnout, severe health issues, and were really desperate for answers and desperate for help and desperate to feel better.

And this I mean, this is millions of people and knew that mainstream medicine is really only helping with emergencies and with diagnostic tools that aren't found anywhere else.

I know I'm not the only one who's feeling it because I see it pop up on social media and I'm having this conversation with friends in real life frequently.

Frequently, it seems you know, related to like, it's like a post-COVID crash.

COVID just intensified everything, right? And it turned many people toward wellness.

I'm going to talk about that word in a minute.

And we all changed in some way during those couple years, right? And for many people, it was like, okay, how can I take better care of myself? This all seems a little off what I'm seeing like in mainstream medicine right now.

And of course, many of us, many of us were interested in wellness, natural healing, herbalism, et cetera, since decades before COVID.

But I am seeing now what this crash and burn that seems to be happening right now feels related to what happened during COVID, like intensity followed by intensity.

Wellness.

I hate that that word has this negative connotation for so many people now, including for me.

because we all want wellness.

I want to be well.

I want my children to be well.

I want those I love to be well.

I want everyone to be well.

I remember when I started working at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op in January of 2005, I was hired in the wellness department, which until the month I was hired had been called HABA, H-A-B-A, Health and Beauty Aids, or some people said Health and Body Aids.

And my friends worked at Trader Joe's at the same time, and they also switched from calling that department HABA to calling it wellness.

And so it's just kind of funny.

Like, I remember the moment that the natural food stores, and I'm sure other grocery stores did it at the same time or immediately after, started embracing that word wellness and how that felt, you know, just like a more welcoming place.

word that sort of nailed it better than health and beauty aids.

And here we are 20 years later and everyone's burnt out.

wellness because turns out I don't know what percentage of it but the huge percentage of it at least half I would say if not more has turned out to not really contribute to anyone's wellness and a lot of us are questioning things that we believed for a long time and I especially feel for people like me who experienced catastrophic burnout, severe health issues, and were really desperate for answers and desperate for help and desperate to feel better.

And this I mean, this is millions of people and knew that mainstream medicine is really only helping with emergencies and with diagnostic tools that aren't found anywhere else.