“I don’t always feel well, but I always feel deeply alive. And that is what I really want to be.” This resonated with me so much. I’m a perfectionist, and being well is a state of perfection. But I’m also human, which means I’m amazingly and wonderfully imperfect--no matter what I feel, I’m alive. And that’s a gift in itself.
"I was long desperate to be “well”. Now, all I want is to be real — to be whole — to be fully alive, which includes days and seasons of not being as well." You are speaking my language. Really beautiful reflection Lisa <3. I've been enjoying seeing more of you, how you think, and your writing outside of Instagram.
"We will never arrive." 🙌 ah, the sigh of relief! Wellness is not a destination. It has been made to seem like that to keep us all fearing, searching, comparing, shaming, buying, selling, etc. As someone with mental and physical disabilities, it is very hard to walk in this society that measures my worth by my wellness. I have times that I feel well by my own standards and times that I do not, but my life is not something to be fixed. Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your realness- your humanity. 💜
„I may not always be well, but I am always deeply alive.“ This - and everything else about this newsletter - resonated so deeply. Thank you endlessly for sharing these beautiful words, which felt so deeply needed. I so often feel like getting rid of everything that is hard, difficult or ugly will never be possible, I try to fathom a future in which I am not struggling - but then I try to remember that it is indeed not possible to rid myself of the parts of myself I wish didn’t exist. I try to remember the importance of embracing every part of myself and accept that being human simply means that there will be seasons of light and weightless joy and also seasons of heavy, lingering grief, and that both are okay. This reminder from you today felt really grounding, reminding me of the importance of accepting all parts of yourself. Thank you again and sending you so much love🫶🏻✨
“We don’t need to force wellness when we’re actually struggling.” Yes, yes, yes. I am a person who deals with both depression and anxiety. I used to think that if I could just squash these feelings down, I could ‘get rid of it’. That obviously did not work. Pretending I was fine when I wasn’t, was so detrimental, and ingrained from childhood that we just don’t talk about things or act like everything is okay, when it’s not.
I still have my bad days but the fundamental shift for me personally was just sitting with how I was feeling. Not saying “I’m fine” when I really wasn’t. Crying when I needed to cry. Feeling my feelings.
I can relate to everything you wrote here Lisa and I thank you for putting into words what so many of us are feeling and continue to feel.
Lovely. It seems this space of allowing ourselves to BE is actually the arrival. I think I've forgotten about achieving wellness all together. Or have moved closer to forgetting it and hadn't realized that until just this second. It's difficult to recognize the shifts and changes, like looking in a mirror every day, we don't always see the changes in our face, but this essay helps me to see how much more rooted into myself I am. Thank you.
I just had a week (or month) where I felt utterly miserable, and I told myself that if I was depressed again, surely I can't pretend to help and heal others if I can't heal myself? In my newsletter I write a lot about resurfacing, leaving some of the murky depths and weights behind, to float to the light on the surface. But we can't float up to the light without sometimes spending time in the darker, colder water. I always know this on a cognitive level, but it's so easy to forget once we feel unwell, and to beat ourselves up for not being 'well'. I was just reminding myself of this when I opened this newsletter, so apt!
As someone with chronic migraines and in a helping profession this hits so deeply Lisa. There are often times where it is so hard and I still live, I still have joy, it is still a life even when I am not well. Thank you
Thanks for this ❤️ Your writings are so wise and so meaningful to me. I love these sunday readings and feel enlightened by you sharing, also from wounds that are not fully healed. Thank you 🙌🏻
Thank you Lisa. I share the same delusion and have spent the last few months examining it, as well as other cultural and family imprints that have made their mark on me. Reading your article brought to the forefront that one of my strongest values is that each of us, especially me, live to my greatest potential. I'm not sure where this came from and it certainly sets me up to repeatedly fail. I will focus my attention to softening the edge between self acceptance and self discipline.
Lisa, thank you so much for this. I’ve enjoyed all of your writings since I stumbled across your work this summer, and when I read the title of this week’s post, I was so intrigued. As someone who has recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness that has completely changed my life, the idea of being a much ‘better,’ more likable, wise, interesting, upstanding human in this world resonates so deeply with me. I have been yearning, striving, fighting to get well again, as quickly as possible, though that may well be physically impossible.
I appreciate this dive into the idea of wellness and the deep rooted societal and personal judgement that goes along with it. This is a delusion I am working hard on as well. For, if I never get ‘better,’ what does that mean for the rest of my life?
This line really resonated. “It’s hard as hell sometimes to no longer pretend there’s a magical land of wellness I’ll eventually reach. But the relief of embracing all of it is what aliveness actually feels like.” I hope to feel this relief and aliveness someday soon 🙏🏽 thank you again for your work.
This has been something I have been meditating on as well. The anxiety and shame that wellness culture pushes on me as a disabled and mentally ill human. Being bombarded with a multitude of promises that THIIIS is the cure or the truth. Learning, instead, to be has been so impactful. To be real, to be ourselves, to be in the now. To embrace that pain exists and will occur, and that doesn’t make us bad. That neurodivergence is a beautiful thing that I actually don’t want to be gone, for I am unsure that “healthy” and “neurotypical” are truly real. Thank you my dear for your words.
“I don’t always feel well, but I always feel deeply alive. And that is what I really want to be.” This resonated with me so much. I’m a perfectionist, and being well is a state of perfection. But I’m also human, which means I’m amazingly and wonderfully imperfect--no matter what I feel, I’m alive. And that’s a gift in itself.
"I was long desperate to be “well”. Now, all I want is to be real — to be whole — to be fully alive, which includes days and seasons of not being as well." You are speaking my language. Really beautiful reflection Lisa <3. I've been enjoying seeing more of you, how you think, and your writing outside of Instagram.
Lisa, Lovely. Being real is more important for true connection than being well. Being real is the key. D
"We will never arrive." 🙌 ah, the sigh of relief! Wellness is not a destination. It has been made to seem like that to keep us all fearing, searching, comparing, shaming, buying, selling, etc. As someone with mental and physical disabilities, it is very hard to walk in this society that measures my worth by my wellness. I have times that I feel well by my own standards and times that I do not, but my life is not something to be fixed. Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your realness- your humanity. 💜
„I may not always be well, but I am always deeply alive.“ This - and everything else about this newsletter - resonated so deeply. Thank you endlessly for sharing these beautiful words, which felt so deeply needed. I so often feel like getting rid of everything that is hard, difficult or ugly will never be possible, I try to fathom a future in which I am not struggling - but then I try to remember that it is indeed not possible to rid myself of the parts of myself I wish didn’t exist. I try to remember the importance of embracing every part of myself and accept that being human simply means that there will be seasons of light and weightless joy and also seasons of heavy, lingering grief, and that both are okay. This reminder from you today felt really grounding, reminding me of the importance of accepting all parts of yourself. Thank you again and sending you so much love🫶🏻✨
I’m a human being, not a human doing.
“We don’t need to force wellness when we’re actually struggling.” Yes, yes, yes. I am a person who deals with both depression and anxiety. I used to think that if I could just squash these feelings down, I could ‘get rid of it’. That obviously did not work. Pretending I was fine when I wasn’t, was so detrimental, and ingrained from childhood that we just don’t talk about things or act like everything is okay, when it’s not.
I still have my bad days but the fundamental shift for me personally was just sitting with how I was feeling. Not saying “I’m fine” when I really wasn’t. Crying when I needed to cry. Feeling my feelings.
I can relate to everything you wrote here Lisa and I thank you for putting into words what so many of us are feeling and continue to feel.
Much love to you ✌🏼💕
Lovely. It seems this space of allowing ourselves to BE is actually the arrival. I think I've forgotten about achieving wellness all together. Or have moved closer to forgetting it and hadn't realized that until just this second. It's difficult to recognize the shifts and changes, like looking in a mirror every day, we don't always see the changes in our face, but this essay helps me to see how much more rooted into myself I am. Thank you.
I just had a week (or month) where I felt utterly miserable, and I told myself that if I was depressed again, surely I can't pretend to help and heal others if I can't heal myself? In my newsletter I write a lot about resurfacing, leaving some of the murky depths and weights behind, to float to the light on the surface. But we can't float up to the light without sometimes spending time in the darker, colder water. I always know this on a cognitive level, but it's so easy to forget once we feel unwell, and to beat ourselves up for not being 'well'. I was just reminding myself of this when I opened this newsletter, so apt!
As someone with chronic migraines and in a helping profession this hits so deeply Lisa. There are often times where it is so hard and I still live, I still have joy, it is still a life even when I am not well. Thank you
Thanks for this ❤️ Your writings are so wise and so meaningful to me. I love these sunday readings and feel enlightened by you sharing, also from wounds that are not fully healed. Thank you 🙌🏻
Oof! Sister, thank you. Thank you for this rich and raw juicy goodness. Thank you. Thank you for showing up.
Thank you Lisa. I share the same delusion and have spent the last few months examining it, as well as other cultural and family imprints that have made their mark on me. Reading your article brought to the forefront that one of my strongest values is that each of us, especially me, live to my greatest potential. I'm not sure where this came from and it certainly sets me up to repeatedly fail. I will focus my attention to softening the edge between self acceptance and self discipline.
Lisa, thank you so much for this. I’ve enjoyed all of your writings since I stumbled across your work this summer, and when I read the title of this week’s post, I was so intrigued. As someone who has recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness that has completely changed my life, the idea of being a much ‘better,’ more likable, wise, interesting, upstanding human in this world resonates so deeply with me. I have been yearning, striving, fighting to get well again, as quickly as possible, though that may well be physically impossible.
I appreciate this dive into the idea of wellness and the deep rooted societal and personal judgement that goes along with it. This is a delusion I am working hard on as well. For, if I never get ‘better,’ what does that mean for the rest of my life?
This line really resonated. “It’s hard as hell sometimes to no longer pretend there’s a magical land of wellness I’ll eventually reach. But the relief of embracing all of it is what aliveness actually feels like.” I hope to feel this relief and aliveness someday soon 🙏🏽 thank you again for your work.
Wow! I would love to read a whole book on this. Thank you so much Lisa 💕 your writing is truly affirming.
This has been something I have been meditating on as well. The anxiety and shame that wellness culture pushes on me as a disabled and mentally ill human. Being bombarded with a multitude of promises that THIIIS is the cure or the truth. Learning, instead, to be has been so impactful. To be real, to be ourselves, to be in the now. To embrace that pain exists and will occur, and that doesn’t make us bad. That neurodivergence is a beautiful thing that I actually don’t want to be gone, for I am unsure that “healthy” and “neurotypical” are truly real. Thank you my dear for your words.