The Itch

#mentalhealth #advocacy #solutions #yoga

I see it constantly, the obsession with symptom relief.

From headaches to fallen arches. Symptoms of poor sleep and flat feet. But what is so often offered are crutches, arch support inserted into the shoe, pain relievers for the headache. Now don’t get me wrong I am not against a memory foam foot floor for my work shoes or melatonin before bed but I am interested in getting to the root of issues.

Our society is reactionary, and symptom reliant; by that, I mean much of our economy is built on creating solutions to symptoms caused by symptom centric entertainment and escapism. You still with me?

Let’s break it down, starting with something we all have to do… EAT.

Having to eat biologically stems from the need to create and maintain energy which helps us move through our day. But food and eating have become something different in the western world, something more than just a way to sustain our strength.

Food culture is a hobby, a pastime, a lifestyle, a distraction. Entire industries have evolved devoted purely to creating products that do NOT satiate hunger but rather create a need for more. This then has given way to the wave of nutrition and wellness that has capitalized on the response to the discovery of the empty calories lining the shelves in the food deserts of America. Wellness culture offers exorbitantly priced meal replacement shakes and protein powders that are still inaccessible to those who need it the most, and yet offer those in privilege the hope that solutions are being developed.

Humanity has always had an obsession with “the Itch”, and rightfully so. Hunger is not inherently evil, it is a helpful indicator that the body needs food. Craving in general can be the catalyst to incredible ingenuity. But how does this affect the way we view enormous issues such as racism and political corruption?

Screechhhh. Tonal shift.

Yup, we are going to go there. Right now our country is being torn to shreds by a hunger that it has indulged in, racial division is only the start of it, the capitalization on that division is also unmistakably on-brand for this ingenious country.

We have been so used to feeding symptoms we aren’t even sure what sustainable solutions look like. The truth is they are deeply, deeply personal because yes even our favorite company, candidate, and client have to keep the lights on, and in this country, the lights are kept on by money, so they will use the system of symptom relief to keep you ‘appeased’. It is my belief that we must be hard at work to understand our part in the solution.

Yes, exercise your right to vote. Yes, fight for justice. Yes, call out hypocrisy, hatred, and racism. But don’t get lost in the symptoms, go deeper into not just learning about systemic racism, but into understanding systemic self-loathing the idea that you need someone or something else to make you whole.

When a person is hit by a car they are not healed by the arrest of the driver or the destruction of that vehicle. It can take years of recovery to find a full range of motion again. Our future is built by people who do not wait for others to change their minds but those who begin to pursue healing against all odds. It is only through our ability to step away from symptomatic reactions and recognize them as signifiers of deeper issues that we can find and create sustainable solutions.

So if you have the itch maybe you should find out if you have been walking through poison ivy.

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