18 Comments

Such a good read!!

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yes! i spent most of my twenties in the cult of wellness and it messed me up. i’m still trying to unlearn the damaging beliefs i picked up there.

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I'm right there with you! I still get in the trap sometimes. ❤️

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I’m definitely in my “non-dairy” items will fix my body and mind phase. I’m like yeah forget those dairy products and take magnesium at night and drink lemon water and i’ll be okay. Is this wrong? 🙃 Someone help 😆

I never can sort through real advice and people trying to sell me things. I’m easily influenced, the real problem here.

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I want to say that for some people, there are benefits from taking dairy out of your diet. Obviously I can't account for every experience and nuance, but I do think it's about intention. I take magnesium at night too and sometimes lemon water does make my body feel good! I think being intentional and listening to your body about what feels good is important. If not eating dairy is helping you feel good, don't let anyone tell you there's anything wrong with that! I think the danger is when it starts to get into disordered eating (orthorexia) and ends up doing more harm than good. For me, I was so obsessed with what I was putting in my body that I wasn't even present in it and was just mindlessly putting anything in my body that someone told me *may* work. Again, a lot of nuance here and it takes time. I think, generally, trying something out isn't a bad thing but setting intention around it is a good first step. That may have just been a mindless ramble, so let me know if I can clarify anything. ❤️

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Yes! Thank you for writing this. I was deep into wellness too and believed it could somehow (if I just bought the right thing) fix me. It didn’t, and now I have so many unused vitamins and oils sitting around. The free, but slow, practice of being in my body has gotten me far closer.

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"The free, but slow, practice of being in my body has gotten me far closer." I adore this and is really the core of all of this that I was hoping to get to and you really distilled so much of it in such a beautiful sentence! ❤️

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Ahh, the Goop episodes were so damn good!

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I love that de-influencing is being talked about now. I love this post. Thank you, thank you <3

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Thank you for linking me - first time hearing de-influencing.

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Omg! Finding your newsletter was such a gift because you were writing about so many things I had already been thinking about! I recommend looking at some of the de-influecing hashtags on TikTok – a lot of interesting conversations happening over there. Thanks for being such a powerful voice in this space. <3

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I'm mostly off TikTok right now, but if and when the urge comes, I shall check it out. xx!!!

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and thank you!!!

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honestly probably a good move 😂 it's the wild west out there!

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so incredibly grateful for you writing this, sharing your story, and just being you. i loved this so much!!! currently on a reading bender of all the books about the toxic wellness industry so this came at the most perfect time.

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also so amazing to see you sharing Dandelion Hill! they are a local human being and a co-founder of Peer Support Space which is an amazing thing to have in my community.

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I stumbled across your Substack and so glad I did! It's so hard to know what it right for you, and the vast array of "influencers" and "wellness experts" out there don't make it any easier.

I just listen to my body now and after some trial and error I found out what works and what doesn't. I have to be vigilant and constantly remind myself I know what I am doing.

Appreciate your work here!!!

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I am someone who has been deeply impacted by healthism and wellness culture impingements for years. How can we not be? The perfect/healthy/pure/well body has extended to my career in a number of ways, toxic professionalism being one of them. As a psychotherapist this has really taken a toll on the sustainability of my work. Recently my colleague and I wrote this piece speaking to the intersection of wellness culture dictates and care worker burnout. We Need Not Be Fine: A Manifesto for Mental health Care Workers Who Can't Go On Like This can be read here: https://medium.com/@kintsugitherapistcollective/we-need-not-be-fine-a-manifesto-for-mental-healthcare-workers-who-cant-go-on-like-this-2e939140c928

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