Gen Z: Wellness from Within
Wellness Booms.
Wellness – the pursuit of holistic health. Since the early 2010s, wellness has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Skip forward a decade and the pandemic magnified this tenfold. With fear circulating, and social distancing separating us, many were left more time-rich, yet more lonely. A mind shift ensued, particularly among Gen Z. The generation in their prime, without tether or stability, began to learn the value of slowing down. Getting outside and exercising. Cooking meals from scratch. Moving their bodies.
And where did they learn about all this? Well, trapped, isolated, and aimless, social media took centre stage as the playground for inspiration and entertainment. Skip forward 4 years and the lasting impacts of this time remain. Food creators can be found upon every swipe, fitness influencers, amateur runners, yoga teachers – you name it, it’s there. These pages offered a mirror to enable young people to do new things, and gain a new-found confidence in their abilities to feel good.
Covid represented the peak of expectations around what social media can offer. Tangible benefits and inspiration for looking after oneself.
But how long can this boom last? How long can social media truly govern the way we formulate goals and feel confidence? Shouldn’t confidence come from within?
A Gut Feeling.
Many Gen Z are driven by self-direction. We’re seeing a generation striving for their own success from within. This is where much of today’s social media wellness falls short. We’re beginning to see Gen Z’s faith in the aspirational, perfectly imperfect influencer of Instagramers and TikTokers falter. As we fully emerge from our covid chrysalises, Gen Z are becoming more and more disillusioned. The idea that true wellness can be achieved through liking, sharing, and occasionally mimicking the behaviour of the superficial wellness echo chamber that dominates their feed is crumbling.
Gen Z are reacting with the optimistic self-determination that sets them apart from previous generations. Re-embodiment, an internally focused mindset where wellness, from diet to exercise, come from within not outside.
It’s about feeling the weight of a dumbbell in your hand and the contraction in your muscles as you lift it for just one more rep. The satisfaction and weightlessness you feel once you lower it.
It’s the feeling of burn in your thighs as your push the wheels around and around, as the lactic acid builds in you.
It’s the feeling of cold hitting your face as you dive into the water, the sharp intake of breathe and the push to warm up in open water.
It’s about hitting the crest of the hill on a run as the music in your headphones hits its climax and, as the tingle of endorphins creeps up through you, for the first time you realise you may be beginning to understand the term ‘runner’s high’.
It’s visceral. It’s raw. Anyone can feel it.
The Future of Intrinsic Achievement.
So, where does this leave us? We’re seeing a shift in Gen Z social media engagement, to find a more productive and genuinely self-serving usage. Social media is a hot house of inspiration, creativity, and connection but for many, mindful and considered usage is becoming a larger priority. “Social media can be empowering, if used in the right way so now I limit my time on Instagram and it’s working great” (Male, Gen Z, Ireland).
Gen Z are generation of self-direction and desire to live their lives their way. As such, we will see accomplishments becoming more a feeling of joy from a sweat-filled run, deep calm swimming in a large body of open water, contraction and relaxation of muscles as the weight is lifted and lowered - connection to the body itself. An experience that is personal and need not be shared online. Intrinsic motivation which is rooted in the desire to move away from the transience of the world towards a practice of pure enjoyment rooted at the heart of exercise and wellness itself.