A cure for wellness

So. Monday. So. Did you? Enjoy your weekend? Yes? No? Had a wonderful time? Seemed to have no time, for anything, when in fact you were busy doing everything? Where do the hours go?

I asked a group of friends I trust to give me an honest answer how they were feeling. The results of this totally unscientific questionnaire? Respondents reported feeling tired, anxious, stressed or unmotivated, or some mixture of the above. Work issues, family issues, health issues, financial issues, global issues, all got a mention. And time. Demands on their time. Clocks, calendars, days, hours.

We talk about the importance of self-care. What does that mean? Self-care as opposed to what? Self-harm? Self-indifference? I pleaded with you (as 2022 ended) to take good care of yourself because isn't everything we do an act of self-care, or if not care then harm and/or indifference? How we eat and sleep, how we act and react, how we care or don't care for our mental and physical wellbeing, personal and social and work relationships. Everything, every little thing we don't even pay attention to most of the time because there doesn't seem to be time, affects us. But what is it that afflicts us, really? Is it the feeling of not being in control of everything everywhere all the time? (Never gonna happen.) Is it the feeling that we've been programed to function in a way we don't recall signing up for and are at odds with? (Yes, that feeling.) Is it the feeling that the more efficient and streamlined and productive we become the more we are expected to do and accomplish? (This.) And don't get me wrong, I know you need a goal and a plan or you'll probably get nothing done, but all this quantifying and qualifiers, information overload and efficiency requirements, the sheer speed and volume of things... Where does it end? How much is enough? Nothing ever seems to be.

Wellness is a trillion-dollar industry. They heard our plea, they smell our fear, they've commercialized it and they've monetized it. And sure, hooray, okay, we are looking after ourselves, or our employers are, finally, good for us. But what is this? What are we doing? Aren't we just tackling the symptoms we suffer from and not the system making us sick and tired? I fully understand those demanding lesser hours, a four-day workweek, quiet quitters; they fully understand this is madness and we are mad to go along with it because there is no end to it and we are not benefiting from it, far from it.

Have you reached terminal velocity yet? What are you gonna about it? What are we gonna do about it? Resist, or continue being abused? 

And if you've already surrendered, by which I mean conceded defeat and admitted you are a mortal and not a machine and have stopped demanding of yourself and have stopped allowing others to demand from you what you would never dream requiring others to do to prove they are worthy of walking this earth, good for you. Good for you, sweetie darling.