How To Be Happy
Get off the steep and slippery self-improvement ladder and try "radical self-love."
From ice baths in Mexico to inpatient treatment at the hospital—2020 was my year of “wellness” extremes, both of which left me questioning what it means to be “well” as I head into 2021. This essay is a continuation of last week’s, which recounts these two wildly different experiences. I recommend you read it first—it helps to enter this story knowing the origins of “normalcy” and the way that group-think enforces it as a social aspiration.
Whether we’re conscious of it or not, a part of us always wants to be a part of the crowd. But nowadays, it’s not enough to just be “normal.” Where “normal” used to be about fitting in, defined as the sharing of common traits with the majority, the pursuit of normalcy is now about being better, perfect, even. Whether I was on a wellness retreat or in the hospital, everyone was there for self-improvement.
“We’re living in an age of perfectionism, and perfection is the idea that kills,” Alexandra Schwartz wr…