Survival is Always Wellness

Wellness with a five month old takes on a whole new meaning.

Some days are good, I’d even venture to say they’re great. I eat three square meals, my tea is never cold. I sleep, my son sleeps, and there’s no spit up, and he only wears one set of clothing. I’m able to get work done while he plays, and he takes all his naps. My husband is able to get errands done, and cooks dinner, and we’re not completely exhausted by the end of day, and even manage to squeeze in a movie or some TV together between my son’s bedtime and ours.

Other days, the three of us just survive.

The days we just survive I feel are the most important. I know there’s tons of blogs and Instagram posts dedicated to the expectations vs realities of parenting, and they’re all true. But being new parents aside, I think the pandemic has really forced a lot of people to ‘just survive’. Wellness isn’t linear, and exclusive to hard workouts and macro balanced food choices.

Wellness is cold coffee.
Wellness is cheese strings.
Wellness is eating three scoops of Greek yogurt from the tub.
Wellness is forgetting the laundry in the dryer for three days.
Wellness is that feeling of release of a hot shower, or when you wash your hair after who knows when.
Wellness is doing dishes only because everything is dirty.
Wellness is getting takeout four days in a row because cooking feels so daunting.
Wellness is falling asleep places that aren’t your bed.
Wellness is wearing the same sweater eighteen times because it smells like a memory.
Wellness is watching the snow fall outside your window.
Wellness is losing the time when you’re doing something you love.

Survival is wellness, no matter how unflattering it can be, or if it’s messy, and doesn’t feel quite right.

My province is rolling out more lockdowns, and there doesn’t seem to be any regions in good standing anymore. There won’t be, until the vaccine is more prevalent would be my assumption. Despite the vaccine rollout, I think there’s still a lot more of ‘just surviving’ for everyone.

I hope you’re all surviving out there, whatever it means to you! There isn’t much of the year left, barely two weeks, but we’re going to get through it.
And for those of you who are thriving, pay it forward! Make sure you’re reaching out to your loved ones, even people who seem like they’re doing alright. You never know who could really use an extra kind word.

Be kind to each other out there!
Until next!