Perfect Health

Is your wellness regime causing you anxiety?

Are you a person who refuses to accept anything short of perfection? Do you continually put pressure on yourself to perform and have trouble moderating your habits? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with setting high standards for yourself, in fact—you should, nobody wants a ho-hum life. But it’s important that you don’t knock yourself with critical self-evaluations and concerns regarding others’ opinions if your standards don’t meet your expectations.

Usually, perfectionism is connected to anxiety. That comes from a feeling or need to over-achieve, with the anxiety stemming from a fear of failure. But did you ever consider your wellness regime might be causing you added anxiety? Wild thought, isn’t it!

We often link anxiety to setting unrealistic goals or putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves with our careers, finances or relationships, but with an ever-growing trillion-dollar wellness industry and new trends constantly coming out that we need toincorporate into our lives, it’s time to take a breath, and no, not a pranayama breathing meditation breath, a simple damn unexamined breath, and ask ourselves—are we causing more harm than good?

As a wellness expert, yoga and meditation teacher I have a to-do list of daily practices that I check off before I even leave the house in the morning—and, being abreast of the trends, those grow exponentially by the week, month and year into a catalog of standards to live by. Standards of wellbeing that I implement to live better and share with those who I know could benefit.

For so many people this year, the line between constructive self-care and anxiety triggers (i.e. just another thing on your already-jammed to-do list) became more blurred than ever before. You embraced these rituals and habits to make your life better but instead, they are stressing you out. So, let’s evaluate how these things need to change. In 2019, it’s time to simplify, simplify, simplify. And get that wellness-loving mojo back.

In a world that is already crazed with self-love promoting Instagram posts with hashtags #selflove #selfcare #wellbeing #wellness being plentiful on social media (no judgment, I’m guilty of doing the same), we have to make sure we are honoring ourselves and not making selfcare a fetish about checking boxes and keeping up standards, yet not knowing why we’re doing what we’re doing.

It’s time to take a breath, and no, not a pranayama breathing meditation breath, a simple damn unexamined breath, and ask ourselves—are we causing more harm than good?

If you find yourself obsessing over the “correct way” to self-care, and feel like crap consistently, then it’s generally a big red flag to stop. I did this recently and went through my wellness to-do list and it was a huge realization that I was overdoing things and needed to take a step back, because self-care is about self-preservation and loving yourself, not doing things that you think you should be doing and the social pressures around wellness.

The wellness industry has created space for improved mental health, yes, but it’s also morphed into just another way to be perfect, implying it’s easy to have the perfect diet, perfect body, and yes— even the perfect self-care routine.

Since I have stopped pushing it with my self-care and scaled back on what other people said I should be doing and started doing what I know makes me feel better. it’s been amazing! So this is a friendly reminder that your self-care doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.It doesn’t need to have a hashtag. It just needs to be whatever makes you feel good. No two people are the same, so why would your selfcare routine be?

So, maybe it isn’t about mastering a specific self-care regime, maybe self-care is a series of experiments that require you to wake up in the morning and ask yourself “How do I feel today? What do I need to be the best version of myself?” and constantly change the wellness tools you use to adapt to the ebbs and flows of life. I know I’ve really thrown you off, haven’t I? Perfectionists, I’m sorry, you might have to dump that checklist, but in the long run, listening to your body will have a positive impact on your mental health, save you from wellness burnout, and give you more longevity, both physically and spiritually.

Tomorrow, when you wake up I encourage you to ask yourself: is this adding to my life or taking away from it? Take time to replenish your spirit and find out what it needs, after all, that’s what self-care is about—self-care. *

Celine Wallace is a New Zealand born Yogi, Lululemon ambassador, wellness expert and writer, and Founder of Sattva Soul transformational women’s events and retreats.

Written by Celine Wallace

Photographed by Meadow Rose

Model Kylee Poling

Hair & Makeup by Kara Richard