Look. Listen. Elizabeth here, CEO of TRILUNA. I’m going to be honest. As a “wellness company” it’s tempting to just dole out advice when things get tough. “Write in your journal” or “go for a run” are easy traps to get caught in when we feel like we need to do something—anything. And I get that. I really do.
But trauma is more nuanced than that. Lives and stories are more nuanced than that. I am seeing so much shaming right now from the health//fitness//wellness community and I am absolutely 100% over it. We responded to a post recently that a local company wrote about how porn viewership is up, weed use is up, alcohol sales are up, movement is down...and how all these things added up to a pattern of “self-destruction” and it absolutely infuriated me.
Could it be that alcohol sales are up because bars are closed? Could it be that movement is down because parents have suddenly become teachers as well? Or that more people are turning to yoga or lower intensity workouts because they are easier to do while social distancing which puts fewer steps on your fitness tracker? Are more people watching porn because they are self-soothing, or going on fewer dates, or seeking the dopamine release of an orgasm, or having more interesting date nights while locked in a house together? To say that people are being self-destructive when in survival mode is irresponsible. To see that fitness trackers are reporting fewer steps and equating that to Americans getting lazy in the face of a pandemic is irresponsible. To say that gyms should be part of phase one [of the reopening plan] because they should have the same “rights” as restaurants is wildly irresponsible.
As health and wellness companies our MAIN JOB is to help our clients lead healthier lives. If you’re piling guilt and shame on top of them while they try to survive: the shame should be yours. I understand we will likely get backlash for this post. We are ready for it. We are so tired of seeing the “wellness community” lose sight of people’s actual wellness.
Now is the time to focus on what you need to survive, on the practices you find soothing, and the things that help you reduce stress. If that’s running and doing high-intensity workouts...GREAT! If it’s having a donut with your coffee in the morning before the kids get up and start screaming...GREAT. If that’s yoga at noon and a cocktail at night...GREAT.
This is what Brene Browns calls an FFT (an effing first time) because it’s hard and we don’t know what we’re doing. It’s a pandemic. We will be researching the mental, physical, emotional, political, financial, and scientific fallout of this for decades. You don’t have to get everything right right now. You also can’t look at one sampling of data and start making accusations about the self-destructive nature of people in quarantine.
If you’re a wellness//fitness//health focused company right now: now is the time for compassion and grace. Not shame and guilt. We can do better.
Join us on the 29th for our “Virtual Supper Club” about Surviving Vs. Thriving, a real no b-s conversation with four incredible women plus a local box you can add on with dinner provided by Golden Roots Nashville.