Raise your hand if you are feeling a little blue these days. With the honeymoon of the new year long over and reality setting in, you might be feeling a little gloomy, a little bummed, a little let down. 

Or maybe you are feeling frustrated with the state of the world? The state of society? Human behavior?

Or maybe you feel defeat. Overwhelmed. Lost. You can raise your hands too. Go on. Raise them up. 

Just a few short weeks ago, we were celebrating the turning of the new year - feeling excited, a sense of hope, a sense of promise; we were setting intentions, outlining our dreams, establishing goals. But as the days have turned over and a few weeks have flown by, many happy feelings have faded and many of us are feeling the blues set in. We are raising our hands up because it’s hard to stay positive in the face of a very chaotic world - it’s overwhelming to stick with intentions for the new year - it’s challenging to focus on new goals and create space for new habits. We are feeling the wellness blues because finding wellness right now, well…it can feel very hard.

So, let’s take a moment.

I want you to take that hand that you raised up - the one that you maybe reluctantly held up because you don’t want anyone to see you holding your hand up - and I want you to place it on your heart. We are going to hold space for our feelings. Whether it’s the blues, frustration, annoyance, or defeat - we are going to hold that feeling for a moment, give it the space it needs, allow it to breathe. With our hands on our hearts, we acknowledge our feelings and, most importantly, we remind ourselves - it’s okay to feel this way.

Wellness isn’t found, born, or created in only one space and it isn’t a destination to be reached on only one path. It certainly isn’t uncovered if we ignore our feelings and definitely doesn’t belong exclusively to positivity, happiness, and joy. Each one of our feelings, no matter what they are, are valid and a part of our journey. The wellness blues are as much a part of the journey as any other feeling along the way.

So, with your hand on your heart, gift yourself a moment of compassion right now. Take a minute or two to hold your feeling, own your feeling, and remind yourself that it does not have to define you or your journey. When you are ready, you might begin to think about how you will move through the feeling, and maybe even how you will move past those feelings to continue on your way. We don’t have to let these feelings derail our wellness goals, hopes, and dreams. But it’s also okay to take a timeout, to take a breath, to take a moment, to take a nap - these, too, are ways that we find wellness.

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Jennifer offers an ongoing series, Wellness is for Everyone, where she peels the layers and opens a larger conversation around wellness and what that means to each person - it will look different to everyone. If you’d like to take a deeper dive into this conversation, please consider joining us.