Today I’m Thinking About Wellness

Today, I’m thinking about wellness and what the word really means. Like playdate and quality time, it is a term I didn’t grow up with. It is also a term which, at first pass seems unnecessary. Kids are hanging out together, why do we have to call it playdate? Members of a family are enjoying each other’s company, why does it have to be called quality time? Why the need to label everything? To me, it only makes it sound like a chore.

What about wellness? We already have health, fitness, wellbeing and more. Isn’t wellness redundant and just one more way for our generation to try to make the ordinary sound more important? Maybe not — and I’m not just saying this because it is one of the headers on my website, and it would be a real pain to change. Maybe wellness, like moobs, is a word we need in our culture. Obesity, anxiety, stress, diabetes and blood pressure are all on the rise. We obsess over hidden calories and trending work outs and fad diets and me-time, yet we are fatter, unhealthier and more depressed than the generations before us.

Wellness, the state of being in good physical and mental health, should be the goal. Fitting into skinny jeans, fitting more hours into the day and fitting in with younger people is only making us fit to be tied. Adapting a healthy lifestyle, with moderation as the mantra, is the key to wellness. Wellness in turn is the key to a long, happy, productive life. Forget guilt. Forget self-deprecation. Forget extreme. Today, simply BE WELL.

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