For the last three years, health and wellness has consumed our news alerts, congested our feeds, taken over our conversations and changed everything we thought we knew about good hygiene. But it’s not just our penchant for stashing hand sanitizer literally everywhere that’s changed—our entire attitude towards all things wellness has shifted, from why we hit the gym to our preferred beauty products.
At Urban List, we think we’re pretty in tune with cultural trends, but in order to get a complete picture of the post-pandemic wellness mindset, we turned the mic to you guys. Are you hitting the gym to look good or feel good? Are you opting for sustainability over pretty packaging? And what does your work life balance look like after such a lengthy slow down?
Well thanks to over 1,200 of you, we know the answers, answers which will make our content even better—and more tailored to what you want to read. Here’s what we found out.
Let’s Get Physical
If you’ve been on social media lately, you might think that obsessing over fitness goals and getting a #summerbody has become de rigueur—and you’d be right. The gym is no longer reserved for the chiselled, it’s the new frontier for the body positivity moment, along with everything from run clubs and yoga studios to beach bars and rooftop pools. 3 in 4 see working out as a way to give you the energy to do all the things you love (like hitting the dancefloor until 3am), while 69% of us are embracing the body we have, flaws, curves and all.
Of course, not everyone is hitting that morning spin class for funsies—there’s still plenty of us striving for peak physical performance. What our survey uncovered is that wellness is a spectrum, not a pie chart, one that has battling with ourselves to choose enjoyment or enhancement—and we don’t always swing the same way.
Find Your Balance
Now let’s talk about mental wellbeing. No longer a taboo topic, mental health is front page news, thanks to an alarming rise in mental health conditions—in no small part due to what we’ve all been through over the past few years. But we’re not going back to shoving our troubles under the table and bragging about 18 hour work days on LinkedIn any time soon—a deeper understanding of balance and holistic wellbeing is taking hold.
A whopping 80% of you are regularly practising vulnerability, gratitude and acceptance—that’s a whole lot of positive vibes going out into the world. 39% also said they are actively working on building their mental resilience—whether that’s by building solid relationships, setting goals or seeking out professional help. The new measure of happiness is knowing your limits and finding balance—and we’re well on our way to getting there.
Perfectly Imperfect
Finally, we wanted to know about your beauty rituals—from self-care to self-tanning. Should our beauty editor be talking more about fillers or gua shas? Are we applying digital filters or embracing our laugh lines? What we found is that the beauty world is definitely becoming more inspirational over aspirational (sorry Kim), with inclusivity and sustainability at the forefront. While we might not be ready to ditch the botox just yet, 4 in 5 of us are now open to showing their flaws and embracing what they were born with, wrinkles and all.
The ritual of self-care is becoming part of our day to day, with half of us enjoying the process of looking after our skin and hair, and a whopping 89% saying they are investing in their future selves by choosing products that slow, not hide, the signs of ageing—retinol and niacinamide, come at us. And with such an addiction to serums comes great responsibility—55% of our readers said they were committed to choosing ethical and sustainably sourced beauty products.
Enjoyment Before Enhancement
So the results are in—when it comes to choosing enjoyment or enhancement on our wellness journey, we’re gravitating towards enjoyment far more often. But it’s not a case of declaring that Crossfit and lip fillers are out while journaling and dad bods are in—it’s more that we’re enjoying the process of finding our best selves, whatever our best self may look like, with acceptance and contentment the first step in getting there.
If you’d like to be a part of our next survey, please sign up here and stay up to date by subscribing up to our Health & Wellness news here.
Image credit: Urban List archives