The Wellness Trap: Why “Self-Care” Isn’t Liberation

For years, we’ve been told that wellness is the way to freedom — that if we just drink the green juice, meditate at sunrise, and curate the right morning routine, we’ll find peace.

But here’s the truth most wellness spaces won’t tell you (or haven’t discovered themselves): self-care isn’t liberation.

It’s maintenance.
It’s survival.
It’s a coping mechanism inside a system that profits from our exhaustion.

And while it can soothe us for a moment, it doesn’t set us free.

The Myth of “Personal Wellness”

Modern wellness culture has been domesticated — sterilized, branded, and sold back to us as a lifestyle. The message is clear: if you’re unwell, you just aren’t trying hard enough.

“Buy another supplement.”

“Book another retreat.”

“Manifest harder. More frequently! Really VISUALIZE what you want and it is YOURS.”

But what if your burnout isn’t a personal failure — it’s a collective symptom?

What if your anxiety is the body’s rebellion against a pace that violates nature itself? You know the saying… “Nature doesn’t rush, yet it gets everything done.” But as humans, build from nature, doesn’t it feel like we never get everything done?

The wellness industry thrives by making you believe you are the problem. But liberation begins when you realize: you were never the issue. The system is.

Self-Care as Sedation

Let’s be real, real — most “self-care” doesn’t challenge the structures that cause harm.

It just helps us tolerate them.

Bubble baths instead of boundaries.
Crystals instead of community.
Detox teas instead of dismantling what made us toxic in the first place.

True healing isn’t about escaping discomfort — it’s about reclaiming our wild aliveness. That means turning inward and outward. It means connecting to something beyond the self — to land, to body, to rhythm, to each other.

Rewilding Wellness

FERAL was born from a simple truth: the body knows.
Before wellness was an industry, it was instinct.
Before we outsourced our wisdom to algorithms and experts, we followed the seasons, the cycles, the pulse of the Earth.

Rewilding wellness means remembering that health isn’t about optimization — it’s about relationship.
To food.
To rest.
To movement.
To community.
To the planet that sustains us.

When we return to those roots, wellness stops being a performance and starts being a form of resistance.

Liberation Hits Different

Liberation isn’t clean. It’s not found in white yoga studios or $90 face serums.

It’s messy. Communal. Embodied.

It’s in your feet when you walk barefoot on the earth.

It’s in your voice when you speak truth instead of pleasing.

It’s in your breath when you say “no” for the first time. And again. And again. And AGAIN.

Liberation begins when we stop trying to fix ourselves and start remembering who we are beneath the conditioning — wild, whole, and worthy.

It’s:

Choosing rest not because you “earned” it, but because your body demands it.

Eating food that comes from the earth, not made in a factory or from suffering animals.

Practicing rituals that return your attention to your own center — not endless scrolling or outsourcing wisdom to strangers on the internet (yes I know I’m a stranger now, but just get to know me and you’ll see I actually care about you ;).

Sovereign wellness is raw. It’s inconvenient to systems that profit off your distraction and disconnection. And it’s yours, without anyone’s permission.

A Wake-Up Call

If self-care feels like a bandage, maybe that’s because it is.

If wellness feels like a chore, maybe it’s because it’s not rooted in truth or actual health.

Liberation asks harder questions. It’s not as pretty on a Pinterest board. But it’s the only path that leads you back to yourself.

So here’s your reminder:
Stop chasing wellness. Start reclaiming your power. GO FERAL.

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