I think THIS WILL FIX ME

Wellness is everywhere. Melissa Broder questions just how well we need to be.

- MELISSA BRODER

It appears that the vagus nerve has hired a publicist. A brief foray on TikTok reveals that the previously introverted nerve, said to assuage anxiety when activated (a claim often made through injected lips in a hushed vocal fry) is having its day. Likewise, the moon has hired a social-media consultant. If ever there were so many varieties of a full moon (blood, cold, pink, super, beaver, micro), never has the quantity of accompanying healing modalities (manifesting, crystal charging, intention setting, sound bathing) been greater.

Timing is everything. But what if one’s cacao ceremony conflicts with one’s intermittent fast? And then there’s the problem of breath work. To Wim Hof or not to Wim Hof? To box breathe or breathe coherently? I just need to know the perfect way to breathe. Especially in a time of crisis.

In 2023, I lost two friends to suicide and got scared that it was contagious. Overcome by the natural symptoms of grief—fatigue, heaviness, panic, existential questioning—I worried that my usual levels of depression and anxiety (considerable) had spawned a new species of depression and anxiety babies. Worse still, the babies seemed to be growing.