29 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started My Wellness Journey
For November’s Living A Better Life Resources, I want to share this wisdom with you.
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A few years ago, I wrote a vignette of what my days looked like in 2019 for FiveThirtyEight:
The alarm was deafening. My coffin-shaped acrylics crawled from underneath the covers, searched for the stop button, and quickly found my Apple Watch. I slapped the device onto my wrist before I washed my face, brushed my teeth, or checked my phone. If I didn’t start tracking soon, I wouldn’t get credit for the calories I burned or the minutes I stood. It was 6:02 a.m., and nothing else mattered. Snug against my wrist, my watch kept me company as I bounced from my bed, into the kitchen to turn on the tea kettle, and back into my bedroom to get dressed for the day’s first workout: power yoga. I tossed my digital companion aside while I showered, but it was affixed back in position before the water stopped dripping from the faucet. Every step, even those paced inside my apartment, counted. Soon, my partner and I were out the door and onto the train. We hopped off a few stops early to walk a mile to the office. By 9 a.m., my watch had alerted me that my exercise ring was closed. The ring spun clockwise with a fiery green swirl and congratulated me on the achievement with this pop-up message: You’ve passed your exercise goal, Julia — and the day has just begun!
I was 27 then, and this perfectly captures how my formal wellness journey began a year prior. My goal was to optimize into the perfect healthy being to be as productive as possible in my pursuits. Due to the nature of capitalism and its connections to wellness and optimization, this is where so many people start during their wellness journey and, often, remain stuck. Three years later, I was so burned out that I had to leave my newsroom job to freelance, so that I could have downtime to rebuild my mental health.
Luckily, I was able to push past this hump by returning to the individual and communal rituals I witnessed as a child. Now, for November’s Living A Better Life Resources, I want to share that wisdom with you. Here are the 29 things I wish I had known or implemented sooner at the start of my wellness journey.
1. Spend as much time outside and in the sun as you possibly can. Improved health and well-being is not on that phone.
2. You don’t need fancy supplements or powders. You only need a few, third-party tested, well-researched options that work for you and only you.
3. But one of those supplements should be creatine.
4. Prioritize fiber and protein.
5. Demonizing carbs or sweets as “bad” isn’t worth your time.
6. Eating beans and greens regularly is one of the best things you can do for your body.
7. Unfollow or just straight up block the “health” influencers telling you to eat excessive amounts of red meat and processed foods for your “gains,” more than they’re telling you to eat fiber and vegetables.
8. Don’t try to figure out strength training on your own, and don’t do Instagram or TikTok workouts from randos with no certifications. There are too many good programs out there from qualified trainers.
9. If you can afford it, pay for the trainer. They will be so helpful, and you’ll regret not doing it sooner.
10. Don’t lift heavier than your body can handle. Your ego is never worth getting injured.
11. But make sure you push yourself in the gym. You can go harder if you can do five more reps after the set is finished.
12. Instead of using the gym as a means for weight loss, jump right in on getting stronger.
13. Don’t ignore the signals your body is sending you. If you’re consistently fatigued, PAY ATTENTION to that feeling.
14. Stretch everyday. Multiple times a day.
15. Eating vegetables grown and meats raised locally is one of the best ways to eat.
16. Throw the animal scraps into the pot with those vegetables, and get the benefits of homemade bone broth.
17. Wellness is political, and community is essential to all our well-being.
18. Check your health privileges, and don’t gloat about what you can do and afford. Instead, be grateful for what you have. Not everyone can walk safely in their neighborhood, pay for a gym membership, or afford organic foods. Approaching health and wellness through a lens of “what’s feasible for the person or people I’m speaking to?” will improve your life just as much as theirs.
19. You can trust your body without pretending your supplement regimen is as efficacious as a nutritious diet.
20. Making sure you get enough high-quality sleep is how you love on your future self—and no, you don’t need fancy sheets to do it.
21. “Clean” is a marketing term, not a medical recommendation.
22. Weight loss isn’t a moral achievement.
23. Burnout is not proof of ambition or worth.
24. Movement is movement. Walking counts. Dancing counts.
25. You’re allowed to age. It’s the most natural thing your body will ever do.
26. There’s no shame in taking medication. Sometimes our bodies need help.
27. Being skinny doesn’t mean you’re healthy, and being fat doesn’t mean you’re not.
28. Most gym photos are just acceptable forms of body checking. Don’t play into it or let it affect how you see yourself.
29. Embark on your wellness journey with love. Taking care of yourself and your community is a labor of love. Let that love and light fill you up.