The truth about wellness
"...let me tell you how I feel about wellness. WELLNESS.
I love wellness—you know, strong bodies and vibrant spirits, the ability to forgive, the practice of resilience, breathing deeply, loving expressively…wait, that’s not wellness anymore?! Now wellness is…macros? Maxxing? Pastel matching workout sets?
I walk. I lift the occasional cute little weight. (Okay, no I don’t but I often intend to). I eat cottage cheese. But I don’t think that’s wellness.
Wellness is going for a walk with a friend and carrying something hard together—not like little arm weights, but like a problem, because life is full of problems and a big part of wellness, as I see it, is carrying things together.
Wellness is reading books that stretch your brain and your assumptions, making your world and consciousness a little bigger intentionally.
Wellness is sleeping in and hugging your teenagers extra tight and telling the people you love that you love them as often as possible.
Wellness is ripe peaches and tomatoes and also sometimes ice cream.
Wellness is learning the skills your family didn’t give you.
Wellness is walking out of your way to see the water or the wildflowers.
Wellness is drinking water, sure, but also sometimes drinking champagne because someone you love has something to celebrate.
Wellness is showing up when you’d rather isolate, going to therapy when you hit a snag you can’t untangle on your own, looking at your own face in the mirror and seeing the flaws but also the courage.
...Beauty is not skin care. Wellness is not workouts. And if they have become those things, then we’ve reduced them tragically, trading meaningful, enormous, transcendent ideas for paltry knock-offs.
–Excerpted from "On Beauty and Wellness" by Shauna Niequist
***Note from Ansley:***
Earlier in this same essay, Shauna writes: "Beauty is a novel sparkling with sentences so precise you can feel them in your chest."
That's how I feel about how she describes wellness. That's why when I read her words, I knew I had to share them with you all. I felt them in my chest.
I turned 40 this past April. I care very much about wellness in all its forms in this season of my life...but if I'm not careful, the world and social media and beauty influencers can trick me into thinking that very multi-dimensional word is one-dimensional. That it's about the number on the scale or the size of my jeans or how much protein I've eaten or my sleep score. But that's only skimming the surface of the state of my "wellness."
I love this beautiful reminder about the depth and the breadth of true wellness in our lives. My favorite line is: "Wellness is going for a walk with a friend and carrying something hard together—not like little arm weights, but like a problem, because life is full of problems and a big part of wellness, as I see it, is carrying things together."
Here's to the truest forms of wellness...and being strong enough to carry the hard things in our lives with our friends 🤍
Help the Curious Community grow! You can forward this email, post on social media or share the website!
Reminder that the first six editions can be read here anytime.
If you haven't already, subscribe here for free!
Read the CC series most loved by subscribers:
Brain Science + Felt Safety from Summer 2025
What to expect from Conscious Curiosity emails:
-
"zoom in" editions with useful tidbits from the experts on relationships, faith & psychology.
- rotating spotlight between topics (relationships, faith & psychology)
- sneak peak of next month's content
- "zoom out" editions with quick insights from experts & thought leaders to help us think about how we think.
consciouscuriousity.com
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
