The Performativity of Self-Improvement Culture

Wellness has become its own kind of currency. As a society, we have gotten used to trading meditation routines like stock tips; we post about “healing eras” as if recovery needs an audience; and we buy things. Lots of things – supplements, candles, guided journals– in hopes that one of them will make us feel whole. Lately, I’ve been wondering; what does being well even mean anymore? Somewhere along the way, it feels that the idea of wellness has drifted away from introspection and more towards performing. Wellness no longer is just about being okay but rather about making sure you look like you’re okay. Peace has become a product; if you can’t show everyone that you have it, you’re missing out.

        I also find it incredibly ironic that because of this performative nature established by social media, the pursuit of wellness has essentially become one of the main sources of anxiety. There’s this sort of quiet belief that’s built into self-improvement culture: if you’re struggling, it’s because you aren’t doing enough. Whether that be you aren’t meditating enough, setting enough boundaries, or thinking positively enough, it essentially is meant to get across the fact that you are responsible for having and doing “enough” of these things, and if you don’t, you are not well. 

        Unfortunately or fortunately, emotions don’t operate on schedules. Healing does not move at the speed of habit trackers. Being “unwell” is something to listen to rather than something to cover with a plethora of TikTok “remedies.” Sadness, confusion, burnout; they’re all messages. They act as a sort of reminder that something in our environments– whether that be our relationships or expectations or something else entirely– might be off.

       Furthermore, I also think that the glorification of the concept of transformation through healing also plays an important role in perpetuating this toxic cycle.The idea that healing has to mean transformation pushes the idea of making yourself look “well” because it essentially states that if you aren’t a new and improved person, you are not healed and hence you are not well. What we fail to realize (or, at least, acknowledge) is that healing must look different for everyone. None of us are the same, and neither are the circumstances we’ve been put through; we cannot expect a black-and-white set of remedies to “fix” everything. 

        That leads me to my final assertion; that wellness does not necessarily have to mean self-improvement and can be about self-acceptance, too. Wellness can be about the radical act of existing as you are without trying to mold yourself into something more palatable or productive. The truth is, there is no prize, at the end of the day, for being “perfectly” healed. All that’s left is the quiet beauty of being human; how you’d like to experience that beauty should be up to you, not the rest of society.