The Cult of Healing

So are you over it yet?

The culture of mental health and healing is ubiquitous. Jump on Instagram or Google and search “therapy” or “healing” and countless posts will come up (maybe even one of mine!) about things you can do to feel better.

Many of these concepts are useful, sometimes just the thing you need to hear when you get overwhelmed and need a reminder, when you’re lying in bed and can’t sleep (oh wait, we’re supposed to turn off our phones and stop looking at the blue light, what is it, half an hour from bedtime, damn I messed up!). Okay, yes, breathe, right? Slow down. Yes.

But wait, they don’t know about my life. I can’t slow down. Don’t they understand?

Nope.

This is the crux of the cult of healing: it offers little snippets of techniques/tricks/methods/self-care ideas to feel better while at the same time subtly making us feel worse because we’re not doing it right, or fast enough, or even slow enough.

Sigh.

What was I supposed to do again?

Right. Breathe.

Healing is personal

Healing concepts on social m…