Hello Community,
I took a loooong break from putting info out into the world related to Nutritional Therapy. I wanted to share a little bit about why, and what I’ve been working on.
TL;DR I had a morality and identity crisis about my services, but I’m back, and I created something I am excited about.
Why the crisis? Well, I’m glad you asked. Allow me to expand:
FIRST: I became a mom… I have a new and undeniable understanding of just how dumb wellness culture is for people whose basic needs are not supported by our larger societal structures. So, while I do still believe in the magic of healing, nutritious food (like, really, I do), I’ve spent most of the past few years wishing we could all just have some affordable goddamn childcare and a healthcare system that doesn’t put us (I know this is not just me) into rage blackouts on a regular basis.
My work in Nutritional Therapy inherently focuses on individual behaviors and habits to support well-being. But, external stressors (lookin’ at you capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy) that are out of our control tend to be the leading factors in our stress, particularly for women and people of color.
It’s extremely burdensome on the individual to make it seem that in ADDITION to weathering the stressors placed on them by external dysfunction or disenfranchisement, they are ALSO responsible for fixing it within their own self. The “do more” narrative of wellness is exhausting. And, like many of you, I suspect, I became exhausted by it and needed a break, and just to be, well… kind of “unwell.”
Reading: Racism Impacts Black Women's Health More than Genetics or Lifestyle
SECOND: I can’t stand Instagram. I crave a good late-night-meme-sesh as much as the next person, but, my tendency towards self-hatred for how I’m spending my time, and anxiety about the general effects of social media on our ability to tolerate each other usually override that pleasure. So, having a business that relied on Instagram got weird.
There’s also the misinformation conundrum on social media. Who’s vetting what? Who’s reposting who? It just feels tricky to participate in.
Reading: Prevalence of Health Misinformation on Social Media
THIRD: I’m sad about the “everyone trying to sell you something” culture we live in. When my child was 6-months old I paid to be a part of a mom’s circle. The premise was basically that there were a group of us moms and we….gathered…That experience left me so saddened and grossed out by the new normal of monetizating BASIC community interaction. What was “provided” was basically a gathering space and conversation topics. Oof.
And yet, the services I offer DO need to make me money. I guess I needed some time to grieve this reality. I’m not here to say “I have figured out a way to do this differently!” I’m just here to say it sucks and I needed a break from how much it sucks.
Ok, so… that was the crisis…Where are we now?
I’m not going to say I am over the whole individual-burden-of-wellness thing, the need to generate income through knowledge, and the reliance on Instagram. But I HAVE come around to believe that NOT using the knowledge and tools that I have available to lessen the effects of stress (whether it is from external actors or our own doing) isn’t making anything better either. I have the tools. Let’s use them.
I also had a transformative experience with my health. Transformative might be a little too positive of a spin. I had a hard time with my health, managing a complicated body that is always bordering on autoimmune dysfunction at the same time as my pandemic postpartum experience (a whole other blog post, perhaps) and three years (and counting, send help) of breastfeeding. I felt unwell for a long, long, sustained period of time, and I had to rethink my tools.
The transformative piece was that these challenges gave me a new angle. Instead of “what should I do to maintain my health?” I was looking at “what can I manage to do to rescue my health?” This is where a lot of my clients are when they come to me.
I ended up designing a Nutritional Therapy plan for myself, but, it wasn’t just any plan. Because I was starting in a place of very low energy, not a lot of time or resources to throw at the issue, and a toddler to chase around, I wanted to take ALL of the labor out of figuring out what to do every day to feel good. Reducing “mental load” is, well, a huge part of the mental load of early motherhood (eye roll). I wanted to wake up every day and have clear cut, pre-planned steps that I could take to start to feel better.
So one day, I was feeling fairly well (read: ovulating) and my excitement about resuscitating myself resulted in the creation of an incredibly comprehensive plan. I felt a little bit like this guy (below) for a day, but by the end of it, I had a roadmap for the next six weeks of my life all the way down to grocery lists, exercise classes, supplement reminders, journal prompts…it was ALL in there. I felt so safe and protected, once I had this in place.
Gone were the mornings of waking up with a mountain of “shoulds” and no way to discern which would make an impact. Instead, I had six weeks of self care tasks that I knew would build momentum as I moved through time, helping me to feel better in an observable, measurable way.
THEN…As I was tweaking this plan for myself, I started to realize what a valuable tool it would be for my clients. THEN, as I was preparing tweaking it for clients, I started to realize I had written……a book.
So, let’s do this! I’m here to invite you to come along with me for the ups and downs, and we’ll see together if I can get this plan-turned-into-a-book out for you and yours to use. Let’s un-mental-burden this wellness shit, eh? Please follow along, like, subscribe, do all the social media things (lol). All encouragement needed and accepted. And, please let me know if YOU are someone who struggles with the mental load of wellness and what would help you!