Even good things are bad. Take the cult of wellness. This was supposed to be a way to improve health in all of its dimensions, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It hasn’t always turned out that way. Many people say wellness proves to be trying and diminishing. It’s become “you are not good enough” theater. One respondent captured the

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Greif situates fitness culture at the nexus of several contemporary threads: the relentless quantification of everything, the drive to optimize the self, the decline of public space—and, of course, “wellness,” as the concept has come to be known. We all want to be “well,” or should want to, at least. But why?

Gertruda Gilyte, another Protein contributor, responded to the lament, desires and questions I’d laid down with a potent thought about “what the future of ‘wellness’ (or ‘self-care’) can bring in both utopian and dystopian ways”. She proposed the counter centres around craft. Making our own sourdough, kimchi, gardening, foraging, knitting –... See more