Learning to skateboard changed the way I think about wellness

Learning to skateboard wasn’t part of the plan. A year has passed, but that blood report still unsettles me. My cholesterol had raced near the line of danger. At 24, if crossed, it could unravel a life I’d only just started to build.

I knew I had to make lifestyle changes, partly to silence the taunts from my parents, but mostly to avoid becoming another statistic in the growing number of young adults facing heart attacks. Only a fitness phase could rewrite the script for me. Like any other sensible person, I tapped my phone. In the court of Instagram wellness, the verdicts arrived quickly: bubble baths, journalling, face masks, matcha in handmade mugs and those White Lotus–style retreats promising to fix your life. All of it was made to look effortless. Each scroll revealed women who are aesthetic and soothing, like joy is just one eucalyptus pillow spray away.

Somewhere deep down, all of us (me) want to be like the wellness girl on our feed after a long day of work and dive into the curated avalanche of health and fitness routines sold to us. You want to fit into that mould.

It’s easier to stay in the shapes we’re handed than risk being the one who breaks the pattern. No wonder we’re all addicted to algorithmic sameness—there’s comfort in doing what looks right, even when it doesn’t feel right. That’s not to say the mould doesn’t work for anyone, but it left me with questions.

How do we gain wellness from trends, and more importantly, from which trend? How do we actually know what the best thing to do for our body is amidst all this noise? How do I decide what act of labourious wellness will make me feel good?

With all of this lingering dread lying next to me on my bed, I wondered what kept me so healthy as a teenager. Just a few years prior, I could breeze through the day without a hint of fatigue, fuelled by nothing more than hostel Maggi and parathas. Maybe it was just my youth, unburdened by smartphones and the office grind and filled with play.