Is it just me or has healthy become SO overwhelming as of late?
I thought working out 5-6 days a week and focusing on eating whole, preferably organic, food meant I was doing alright.
But now I’m being bombarded with flotation tanks, salt rooms, infrared saunas, meditation, sound healing, non-toxic manicures, organic beauty products, paraben-free beauty products, Paleo, Whole30, dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free… and the list goes on.
HOLY F*CK IT’S OVERWHELMING. And expensive. And impossible to keep up with the latest trends in wellness.
Don’t get me wrong… Some of those things I just listed are GREAT. There’s a reason so many CEOs are touting the benefits of meditation. I personally can speak to the pro’s of going dairy-free.
But, don’t let your quest for healthy stress you out.
I’m not here to tell you what wellness trends you should or shouldn’t follow. Just because I don’t personally care about what’s in my beauty products (sorry, not sorry) doesn’t mean YOU shouldn’t care. For me personally, it took me, like, 15 years to get my acne under control so I am NOT messing with my current skin regiment that was recommended by my dermatologist.
Just because I emphasize fitness as my top health priority doesn’t mean you have to too.
Maybe for you it’s eating organic / paleo / vegan / etc. Or using organic beauty products. Or meditating daily. Or going to acupuncture. Or going on 30 minute walks every day during lunch. But don’t feel like you have to do ALL of the above.
Healthy doesn’t have to be SO freaking complicated.
One of my all time favorite fitness instructors Liz Barnet wrote a killer blog post in the spring that continues to reverberate in my brain on the topic of fitness overwhelm, which I’ll also argue extends to all things healthy + wellness.
I had dinner with a few blogger friends the other night and we all shared this same feeling of overwhelm when it comes to trendy fitness things in NYC. It’s hard to keep up, but not impossible. Especially when it comes to smoking, many are shifting to vaping products (like those available at https://diyeliquids.co.uk/) or trying to slowly stop smoking. It is overwhelming, yes I know.
All of this is to say, if you’re feeling overwhelmed too, I feel you. And if you’re not going to infrared saunas and using exclusively non-toxic nail polishes (guilty) that doesn’t make you a bad nor unhealthy person.
I believe healthy can be a lot of things. But ultimately, it’s what leaves you happy and feeling like your best self.
I’m not picky about my beauty products, but I am starting to be bothered by artificial colors of all things. Do I really want to put yellow lotion on my face or green lotion on my legs? I think I have gotten used to noticing/caring about artificial colors in foods, and it just spilled over!
ICK that’s SO bizarre that that’s even a thing! Why is my lotion green… can’t it just be whatever color it would’ve been otherwise?!
This made me cry happy tears. I love that you wrote this (and I L-O-V-E) your tee! I’ve always be a little high-strung when it came to my health – It was all or nothing. I was either doing great or I wasn’t. I got diagnosed with Diabetes earlier this year, and totally realized that my health is up to me, and I go at my pace – not anyone elses.
This was super refreshing. I’m glad you said it!
Thanks so much for the love! I totally feel you, I’m an all or nothing gal too. Happy you’ve realized it’s all about going at your own pace, you gotta do you and take care of yourself, whatever that means to you!
GREAT post, Kayla!
I totally understand this–especially now, I’m working from home and EXTREMELY busy for this month, so it’s been really hard to stay on top of working out as much as I normally do. But I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that it’s sometimes OK to take a break, and it’s OK to be stressed and have one too many cheat meals because it’s a long-term goal, and getting stressed about what I “should” do doesn’t help change what I actually “can” do right now.
This was so encouraging. 🙂
Rebecca Lindenbach | Life as a Dare
Thanks so much for the love 🙂
I’ve found it’s all about prioritizing, sometimes I get delivery because there are not enough hours in the day to do all the things that need to be done AND cook a healthy dinner, and that’s fine.
The craziness won’t be forever and you just gotta make it work when you’re in the thick of it!
Maybe you don’t mean to, but your comment about you emphasizing fitness but saying the rest of us don’t have to sounds very condescending… Ends up negating the point I think you were going for with this post…
Hi Tara,
I’m so sorry if it came off that way, certainly not my intention! Just meaning that with so many different things out there to focus on as far as being healthy, I personally have decided to focus on fitness because that makes me feel good and helps keep my anxiety at bay + my mind clear. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and feeling like I need to work out, go to an infrared sauna, go to salt rooms weekly, meditate daily, use only all organic beauty products, eat organic + paleo otherwise I’m not being “healthy”.
I simple meant that instead of trying to do it all and do ALL the healthy things, I personally have decided to focus on fitness, but for someone else that might be eating organic / paleo / vegan / etc, meditating daily, acupuncture or anything like that.
Apologies again for it coming of as anything but that!
Kayla