A WEALTH OF
WELLNESS
DOES YOUR LIFE SPARK JOY?
I
f your idea of a good time is reading a wellness or self-help book on your next train or plane journey, then now must be an amazing time to be alive. A cursory glance at the shelves in any bookstore will show a glut of such titles, some possessing edgy titles like those of Sarah Knight with ‘Get your S**t Together’, and ‘Calm the F**k Down’ (asterisks authors own). These and similar titles must be flying off the shelves, as they appear to take up half the stock on offer, and rents can’t be cheap. It’s been a long road since the first popular book of the genre, How to Make Friends and Influence People, was published back in 1936, and our bookcases have been groaning since. But there is a new sheriff in town, offering a wonderful life, requiring less effort than reading a book and promising a sense of wellness with every purchase. Welcome Netflix. A quick scroll through their titles will show a raft of documentaries and series dedicated to helping you fix your life. Not that there’s anything wrong with you of course, but things could be better, right? Marie Kondo is leading the charge against hording, whilst the popular Fab Five from Netflix are helping lovely people who need a spruce-up. But whilst it’s great to only have things that ‘spark joy’ in your home, what is left after a brutal clear-out, and will you still possess any underwear? Or plain T-Shirts? Or your children? Obviously popular (generally publishers and producers don’t invest in loss-making TV shows or books), does this new wave of self-help indicate we’re no closer to real happiness. Although there is an undeniable after-glow when watching these shows (I would defy anyone to not watch s1e1 of Queer Eye without getting
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misty), do these shows and books offer help, or hinder? The downside is of course, that no generic advice fits everyone. For every person inspired by the ‘Life Changing Magic of not Giving a F**k’, there is another, wondering what’s wrong with them, and why do they have to care so much. Anecdotal evidence tells us that if someone has two self-help books, they probably have another eight on their bookshelf, so even though people might be inspired in the moment, they stay on a treadmill chasing happiness. What is fuelling this crisis of perceived happiness? It’s probable that social media is playing a key role. A study in 2017 showed that the more people used Facebook, the worse they felt – mentally and physically. Constant exposure to the lives of others shows us what we don’t have, and makes us wonder – why not? Don’t I deserve this too? Another unintended consequence of social media is the oftreported echo chamber. When you use social media, algorithms learn what you like and show you more of the same to keep you engaged and on the platform longer. Your friends generally think the same as you, and when you meet people online through the things you like, they’ll generally share your opinions as well. Your viewpoint is constantly being reinforced. We can see for ourselves how swiftly this has meant rational discourse becomes a mud-slinging contest. When
LIFE COACH CHES MOULTON SAYS MOST OF HIS CLIENT’S GOALS ARE; THAT THEY WANT TO BE HAPPY.
