Wellness Confessions #2: A 26-Year-Old Marketing Coordinator Talks Boundaries with Technology and a Hot Take on “Luxury Wellness”

Wellness Confessions is a series of anonymous submissions from real people about their authentic wellness truths, with a special focus on identity and culture (since that’s often left out of the wellness conversation). Each confession may be edited for brevity but is otherwise true to the submission.

Submit your own wellness confession here.

The Confessor:

• Age: 26
• Location: Charlotte, NC
• Pronouns: He/Him/His
• Racial/Ethnic/Cultural Background: Black/African-American‍
• Occupation: Marketing Coordinator

The Confession:

What does wellness mean to you? It means being authentic to myself, which is really important for my mental health. In the past when I haven’t lived in a way that was really true to who I am, I definitely suffered internally because of that. 

What wellness habit has completely changed your life? I hate to admit it, but it really is that damn phone 😂. Putting better boundaries in place has helped me be more present. Every day isn’t perfect, but I at least try to start the first hour of my day with very limited use of my phone. 

Is there anything about your cultural background that influences your wellness outlook? I think maybe being engrained with a sense of resilience, for better or worse. But I didn’t necessarily grow up learning a bunch of wellness practices or using the language that I have now. 

What’s a wellness product or service that you would purchase over and over again? Probably my gym membership, which does hit my account over and over again lol! I use that the most consistently out of any other product I’ve ever purchased. It took a while for me to become consistent, but it has become a necessity each week and helps me stay balanced physically and mentally. 

What’s a wellness product or service that you regret spending money on? A local meal-prep service that I didn’t end up liking because it had no flavor. I had tried a couple things that were pretty good, and then I locked myself into a 3-month subscription and long-term I didn’t actually like the majority of what they offered. 

What’s a wellness trend that you think is overrated? Diagnosing ourselves with every ailment, disease, disorder, etc. I love that people are more knowledgeable now, but I think it’s harmful when people diagnose themselves with mental illnesses without the help of a licensed mental health professional. 

What’s an aspect of wellness that you want to learn more about this year? I mentioned earlier that I love using my gym membership, and I would just like to become more knowledgeable on how to safely and sustainably improve my full-body strength. I tend to find exercises that I like and stick to them, but I need to diversify movements. 

What is something you wish you could change about the wellness industry? I just wish that it was more accessible. Every class and experience is “luxury” now and I don’t think that real wellness is all that luxurious. It’s really supposed to help people grow and heal, not always have to be about showing off wealth. 

Twenty years from now, what do you wish for your well-being? It’s pretty simple: I just hope that I feel healthy mentally and physically, and that I’m living a life that makes me happy!