“Just because I work in wellness, I can’t be healthy all the time”

When everyone knows you as a health and wellness enthusiast, what happens when you get sick or get hit by a poor mental health episode?

I’ve got a cold – my second in a month. Yes, despite the heatwave. And aside from having to cancel plans (apparently, you can’t turn up to drinks smelling of Vicks anymore, who knew!), it’s jarring because I’m the only person I know who has a cold. My mates who smoke a lot, drink daily and don’t own a pair of trainers seem to rarely get ill.

Usually, I try to keep my colds on the down low. When I caught asymptomatic Covid, I quietly stayed at home until after the isolation period was up. I try not to talk about feeling under the weather. Why? Because I’m worried that admitting to not feeling my best makes me a bit of a health fraud. When you spend much of your spare time running and extolling the virtues of veganism, you’re expected to be the epitome of wellness. People anticipate that your skin is clear, energy high and gut health on point.

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In fact, over the weekend, a new friend was complimenting me on my complexion. When asking about my regime, she suggested that my healthy glow was down to being plant-based – something I tend to believe plays a big role, alongside genetics and hormones. What, I wondered, would she think if she saw me mid-breakout? Maybe that my diet had disintegrated?

Although it’s obviously lovely to be complimented, there is a kind of unspoken pressure for people who are into wellness to be “well” 24/7. We want to see that healthy habits, fitness regimes, and mindfulness techniques actually work.

“I’m one of those annoying people who regularly claims they never get ill,” says fitness writer Kerry Law.

“However, when I get a cold, it seems that some of my nearest and dearest see this as some kind of ‘gotcha’ moment – validation in their belief that all this ‘woo-woo’ stuff as they see it, like eating kimchi, doing yoga, being a flexitarian and indulging in the occasional sound bath, doesn’t really work. I feel like I need to prove them wrong; I’ll be having the last laugh when I’m channelling that ‘Paul McCartney at Glasto’ energy at 80.”

Of course, it’s not just about physical health. Many of us engage with wellness, fitness and/or plant-based eating for our mental wellbeing – and when that declines, the added stress of our toolbox not working can make everything feel that bit worse.

Over the past few weeks, PT (and former Strong Women Training Club trainer) Sam McGowen has posted on Instagram about going through a poor mental health episode. In her weekly newsletter, she described received a wild message from a man (who else) telling her to have some what he called, “man the fuck up pills” to help her come back stronger than ever. “I understand that people have shit times etc however when people rely on you to pick them up and you just piss off… (that) isn’t amazing,” he wrote, referring to Sam’s decision to step away from social media for a mental health break. 

Sam clapped back, saying that part of her job as a coach is to help clients and followers find a way to improve their strength, health and confidence while also living life. “I don’t want to give a false impression of how life really is. [Life] means dealing with stress at work, getting ill or injured, or dealing with mental health struggles.”

Of course, people like Sam and I are in positions which come with an assumed degree of responsibility. We’re here sharing information about how to live your healthiest life, so if we can’t get it right, what hope is there for everyone else?

Stylist’s own Savannah Parkinson recently switched job roles to work in wellness. “Now my title has ‘wellness’ in it, I don’t want to feel like an outsider because I’m low energy or have period pains or feel nauseous,” she says. “You want to feel like you are in that space because you live for wellness, and if you’re feeling a bit shit, you’re doing something wrong.”

It’s not enough to simply be having a down day, she explains: “It’s almost like if I’m not feeling my best, I need to define precisely what’s wrong in order for it to be valid.”

It’s worth saying that Savannah also has a heart condition that stops her from doing any vigorous cardio – and when you work in the wellbeing space, that’s quite unusual. “I’ve always struggled with physical exercise and my friends know that – so I now worry that they see me as a fraud for engaging with it a lot more now. In reality, my job has helped me love exercise more than I’ve been able to before.”

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Clearly, the pressure to nail wellness is rife in the industry and if we’re all struggling with it, it’s probably affecting the women who engage with wellness recreationally. Yes, you get colds if you eat a ton of vitamin C; yep, poor mental health days still exist if you do yoga or run most days. Wellness doesn’t make you immune from life – and more of us need to be more open about that fact.

Images: Getty

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