3 Ways I Avoid Wellness Fatigue

The word wellness is everyyyyyywhere. It’s trendy at this point. Our obsession with wellness has manifested into a multi-billion dollar industry of gurus, tonics, tinctures, powders, workouts, and more. The list could go on and on. It’s trendy to be perfect. Trendy to wake up, not look at your phone, meditate, eat clean, get 12k steps, stop drinking, stop eating, stop living. It’s a bit exhausting, to be honest. Exhausting to KEEP UP with it all, which I can’t. And won’t. Over the years, I have incorporated healthy habits into my everyday routine, a lot of that thanks to Alix and her expertise, but a lot of it due to my own education and overconsumption on social media (not a healthy habit by the way). But therein lies the problem with our society today… we have too much at our fingertips. Podcasts, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, blogs, and articles on how to be a fit girl. A skinny girl. Watching women’s “What I Eat In A Day” and “How I Lost The Baby Weight.” UGH. Striving to achieve wellness perfection has induced more anxiety than relaxation.. how is that good for my body? Oh wait, it isn’t. Health trends are relentless and I think a lot of us are emotionally exhausted trying to keep up. What I’ve learned is that no matter how many green juices I drink, turmeric shots I take, CBD pills I pop it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll meet your personal goals. So today I am sharing the ways I avoid l the wellness fatigue that is plaguing us.

Accept Your Limitations

For the most part, I move my body daily, eat healthy 80% of the time, drink water, limit my alcohol, and get 8+ hours of sleep a night but I am never going to be a size 2, an athlete, running marathons, or lifting huge weights. I will never be able to keep up with Alix on the treadmill or bike. It’s not in my DNA, it’s not my genetics. I do what I can everyday to feel my best but I can’t do it ALL every single day. I eat dairy, I drink wine, and I splurge when I want to because no matter how “good” I am, there is no such thing as perfection. I fell off of my supplement and Athletic Greens routine a few weeks ago due to traveling and WHO CARES. I noticed I was feeling tired in the afternoon and thought to myself gee, I should start drinking my AG in the morning again. And I did. Will I forget some mornings and just go straight to coffee cuz that’s what I want? Yerrrrp. Your body knows best. Listen to it. Sometimes, it is more beneficial to give yourself a break and make the seemingly “unhealthy choice.” I know my limits. I listen to them, I honor them, and embrace it.

Only Take Advice From People Who Are Licensed to Do So

Every Tom, Dick and Harry is a wellness expert on social media. Food and wellness bloggers are out here telling us what to eat, drink, ingest without a lick of education behind it. Some of the fear mongers out there telling us that a Costco chicken is bad for you actually never took a nutrition course. STFU. Girls touting tummy teas or Prolon to lose weight. That’s some dangerous sh*t in my opinion. Luckily, Alix is a registered dietitian and keeps up on her continuing education and can help steer me (and you guys) in the right direction when it comes to health and wellness trends and who NOT to listen to. PS anyone who tells you to completely omit a food group is probably not someone we’d listen to. She wrote this post here that really embodies how we feel. We have a number of podcasts with highly educated people we trust (Andrew Huberman comes to mind) and take advice from and try to implement wellness practices into our every day lives but others on social media should be muted. Or blocked. Or shut down entirely. We have had to unfollow some bloggers in the past due to their misinformation, overexercising, macros counting, diet culture and holier than thou attitudes. If it sounds restricting and unhealthy, it likely is. Only take advice from someone with the credentials to do so. Like a doctor, nurse, scientist, or dietitian.

Be Consistent but Patient

There are podcasts, classes, blogs that give us lists of the things we should be doing daily to achieve optimal health. You wanna know how intimidating and long that list is? I’d be here all day. What I’ve learned is to start small and incorporate new routines slowly one at a time.. not all at once. Be consistent but patient. Otherwise, you will surely fail. On a perfect day, I’d wake up, not look at my phone (yeah righttttttt), drink 12 oz of water + Athletic Greens, avoid coffee for at least 90 minutes, then add my marine collagen, go outside to get light, walk, move my body at least 60 minutes, eat whole foods, take my supplements, drink 100 oz of water, avoid dairy for skin issues, turn off my phone 2 hours before bed time, do my skincare routine 2x a day, drink no alcohol, avoid sugar and processed foods, and get 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep. WHO IN THE F can do that every single day unless you’re a celebrity with experts at your disposal? Start with one or two habits and slowly incorporate them knowing that doing it for a day, a week, even a month likely isn’t going to be the cure all. Change takes time and while I am as consistent as I possibly can be, there are days, weeks, months I fall off. In fact, this month has been one of them. It’s full of holiday gatherings where the champagne flows.. this b isn’t turning down a glass. But I don’t beat myself up over it. One off day, week, or month is FINE. Of course I want to feel my best and being hungover and a loser is not my best. But ‘tis the damn season for a good time. And sugar. And indulgence. Allow it, embrace it, and then get back to your consistent routine when the time is right.

The real issue with the wellness craze is the shame that women are taught to attach to their bodies. Women have been – and continue to be – taught that we don’t know what’s best for our bodies and we have to listen and constantly check in with whatever updated rules the media has decided for us in order to be “healthy.” Let’s stop judging ourselves and show yourself some grace. So in order to avoid wellness fatigue, I have decided to focus on my own health journey and not get caught up in anyone else’s. Be gentle with yourself and know that your skincare routine, morning/nighttime routine, exercise routine, whatever it may be, does not define you.

xx, Heather