The long way home

The commodification of healing has caused us to search for answers outside ourselves, leading many to take the long way home. We have always had everything we need, yet capitalism keeps tricking us into thinking we need to find more. The over-consumption of wellness has left many feeling sick, disillusioned, dazed, confused, lost, and broke. No matter how many ads you see or how hard you try, you will never be able to buy healing. 

Wellness is a multibillion-dollar industry, with retreats, conferences, oils, and e-courses galore. If you are signing up for empowerment brunches in search of answers, I assure you, you will not find them. These seminars, conventions, and summits often serve as a distraction from the real work. You are your work, and the longer you wait to make yourself your work, believing you will find yourself at a goat yoga class, at the bottom of an acai bowl, or attending a session led by a wealthy influencer, you will continue to drift further away from home. 

You are home. 

I understand that home has not always been a place of warmth, kindness, love, care, and stability. I also acknowledge that without experiencing these things, you cannot fully understand what they look and feel like, which means you often do not know how to give them to yourself. So when someone packages healing up into a weekend retreat and makes it accessible, it feels achievable. 

Healing is not an aesthetic, Canva template, or an Instagram filter. Healing is also far from linear–it is messy, dark, scary, and lonely. Healing requires that you sit with your shit, not run from it. Healing demands stillness, which capitalism despises. 

Let me reiterate: healing can not be bought. 

Healing occurs when you make the conscious decision to get rooted in your life, to accept all the parts and pieces, recognize harmful patterns, and break them. Healing is about getting clear, learning to answer: who are you and what do you want to contribute to the world?

Clarity, meaning, and purpose are on the other side of your shit. Staying busy by guzzling wellness like bottomless mimosas is one of the easiest ways to avoid dealing with yourself and from finding your way home. Wellness activities have their place; however, they are no different than any other thing that is overused — eventually, they will cause harm.

You have everything you need.

You are your work.

Stop taking the long way home.