Often health and wellness are portrayed as something achievable, an end game. Read any celebrity interview and you’ll inevitably see a claim that ”I’m in a good place”. It’s as if they’ve arrived at a coveted spot and are there to stay. Similarly, across advertising and social media, you will be treated to endless, “proven” solutions to anything that ails your whole body and spirit. As human beings, we are ceaselessly chasing answers and think if we just find the right thing (potion, notion or situation), we will find perfect health and wellness.
As a cisgender white woman well into the second half of life, I’ve had the privilege of resources that enabled me to experiment with many different avenues to health and wellness. What I’ve come to realize is that discovery, challenging and unpacking my beliefs, continuous learning and straight-up adventure are all fruits of the health and wellness journey. It is much more a trip and not a destination.
What unites us all is our fragile humanity and sentience; we must realize we’re all made up of the same stuff. That said, our individual chemistry and our psycho-emotional, social and economic environments are very unique and always in flux. There cannot be a “one-size-fits-all” way to nurture our whole body and spirit. There is no magic prescription. Moreover, our health and wellness are many-layered. No one outside ourselves can know everything that went into getting us to where we are, or how we can best move forward.
Our own curiosity and determination are the key components of our health and wellness adventure. This undertaking does not happen in a vacuum, and we should not journey forth strictly on our own. We need to involve others, and continually broaden our community. We need to expand beyond our own borders, including people, situ
Cancer. Rheumatoid arthritis. Anxiety. Depression. Panic disorder. Agoraphobia. Bad choices. Spectacular screwups. Insecurity. Self doubt. Family discord. Irritable bowel syndrome. Debt. Domestic abuse. Divorce. Albeit these have all been part of my life, I still hold dear my community and a deep love of life and all her mysteries. Yes, there are some aspects I’m still wrestling with, but these challenges bring more creative expansion.
My newest discovery is cannabis. How lucky we are that this plant has seen an evolution in how our society at large views it. Long repressed and seen as an agent of harm, cannabis and those who consume it have been villainized and criminalized for decades. We are on the brink of widespread understanding and deeper discovery of its benefits. Again, this needs to be a personal odyssey, since our unique chemistry and psycho-emotional blueprint define how we interact with different strains and methods of consuming cannabis. I’m currently experimenting with CBD tinctures and working my way toward one that also contains a very small amount of THC. This takes some research, as well as listening to my body and journaling. And it’s been a joy to engage in new conversations and be enveloped by a wider community of people from many different backgrounds. There’s a lot of wisdom and love out there, just waiting to be discovered.
I’m really psyched about getting my hands on an Annaboto and growing my own CBD-forward strains of cannabis. My order is in! It will be a new part of my health and wellness journey, knowing there is only the satisfaction of endless discovery, rather than the dissatisfaction of expecting a permanent destination.
Author: Mission April