I’m still grumpy… and grungy. I’ve recently started to listen to Green Day’s American Idiot again. Much to the chagrin of my neighboor because I find myself sing/shouting “I don’t care if you don’t care!” like my life depends on it. And you know what? It kinda depends on it. There’s so much rage that exists in my body. Where the f- did it come from? Why the f- is it there? I have no idea.

But as I get older I yearn for the grunge. My partner and I recently bought a condo and while we looked up in North York we didn’t like it. Mainly because it was too sanitized. Now that’s not me coming up with that term, that was him. But I also went to a library, North York Central Library. It’s great, has a huge space for the kiddos to play. But guess what? It’s clean. Too clean almost. And also way too sanitize. 

Another place where I prefer the grunge is in a gym. I remember growing up, my mom dragging me to a gym that also offered childcare (brilliant). It was downtown in the small town that I was born into. At that time downtown didn’t have the allure as it does now. Most people with any sort of money lived in the burbs, as we did. But the gym was in a stretch of grungy businesses, some pawn shops and even some adult shops too situated next to a dilapidated parking garage. As I got older I started lifting weights there too, and they did clean themselves up a bit. But my affinity for grunge must have started young. Now around me there are all these fancy smancy gyms that ooze bougie-ness. But none of them are alluring to me. It’s like the too beautiful people go there to get more beautiful. Whereas I want to go somewhere and grunt it out. Like, lift my body weight in a squatting cage. Or cover my hands in chalk preparing to life 2x my body weight in the deadlift. There’s probably no grunting allowed in those preppy gyms, it would ruin the vibe.  

I met a friend recently for coffee and she was telling me about her aunt’s gym. Unfortunately, it’s way out in Victoria BC, but it seems like a place that I would like to spend time in. Why? Because she (Sarah-Jane) targets her clientele to those over 40+.  SJ is pretty badass too and is serious about improving lives, especially if you’ve had a kiddo. I’m bummed that I’m so far away, it’s always a joy to meet people that you vibe with. And I think her gym would have the perfect amount of grunge and the right kind of people that you could belt out American Idiot and no one would bat an eye.

I absolutely love meeting two kids of people. The first is anyone, literally anyone who is good at what they do. Like spent their whole adult lives doing one thing and then they are still doing that one thing. These people are my favourite because they make such good conversationalists (about their chosen topic) and their enthusiastic enough about it to suffer under my barrage of questions. And man do I like asking these types of people questions! It can be literally anyone: mechanics, doulas, RMTs, and scientists.

The second type of person I love meeting is people who try and make a difference for others. Now this doesn’t have to be high and mighty, not for nothing I would love to meet the former president Mr. Barak Obama, but even people who are not famous on the world stage but are always trying to make a change, those are my people.

Espiecielly now where I feel that the billionaires (they shouldn’t exist) and corporations (they are not people!) are just out to make as much money as possible. To an extent that our world is burning and at a precipice of climate catastrophe. But I digress.

I have recently had the pleasure of meeting one person who fulfills both of my favourite type of people, Jon from Affinity Immuno. Jon is a legit scientist, like work in a lab and create vials worth of protein, HGH kits, and monoclonal antibodies. Honestly, I don’t really know what all of those things do, (I was terrible in science in high school) but it was cool listening to him talk technical and I felt like I could hang in the conversation.

But what really made the conversation stand out was Jon’s “Why”. Why he does his work. Why he got into science in the first place. And you want to know the reason? It was because he wants to make a positive impact on our species as a whole. Because one of the best ways to improve lives is science. Thanks to germ theory, modern sanitation and (again!) monoclonal antibodies literally millions of people’s lives have been saved. But not only that the quality of our lives has improved so significantly that it’s hard to believe. Here we are, in the west sitting in our homes with running water and electricity. Driving on streets that literal humans made. For our cars, that again and you guessed it, other humans made. It’s absolutely crazy to think that I am a human and yet on the backs of all others who have lived before, I am able to live  a life that is so comfortable with modern medicine, that I can grow to be oh so very old.

My grandfather passed away at 94 years old. That man was born before there were computers and died with an I phone. All of that humans did, and it’s mainly for people like Jon who have worked their whole lives for the betterment of others. It was truly an honor to meet him.

Has anyone else been concerned at the growing trend of wellness here in Toronto? It’s like everywhere I turn there are fancy shops that all seen to smell that same promoting wellness or whatever that is. Yesterday I was walking through Eaton Center and happened to walk by Lush and got an immediate headache. Following Lush was some sort wellness shop Saje maybe?? And while it was a relief from the literally assault on the sense that is Lush, it smelled like any other wellness shop that you would happen to pass by.

My theory is that, here in the west we have so much. So much money, so much food, so much access to health and wealth that companies need to create something else to give us that exclusivity feeling we all crave. Especially here in Canada where if you are born here or have PR, you get free healthcare for life. Can you believe it? We evolve from the African savannah dying in droves from all sorts of ailments to free access to high quality healthcare. It’s incredible.

But I think part of our human condition is that we always want more… we need more. We have to get better, to optimize our lives, become more productive, etc. And nowadays it’s so trendy to do selfcare. and so, overconsumption has now infiltrated our perceived need to somehow make our lives better.

And so, while I’m a big grumpy butt there’s one aspect in life where I believe I am a hypocrite. That’s in the arena of birth and postpartum. For all our advances here in Canada I think that we treat the creation of another human much more poorly than other cultures. Maybe it’s in part to our isolation. Here, we all have our own homes, and intergenerational living really has been falling by the wayside. When I was studying in Morocco my Arabic teacher lived in a building with her in-laws and her brother-in-law’s family. They all had their own individual flats, but it was a family home. Even more interesting was the fact that since it was a concrete building, they could easily add another floor once her kids needed a home.

I think her family’s take on intergenerational housing would solve a myriad of difficulties after you have had a baby. Birth is a marathon and postpartum can be brutal especially if you decide to nurse. Lactation is no joke, and it takes an incredible amount of hormones, calories, and effort to establish a good nursing routine. Only in this context do I think having a wellness coach, or a postpartum doula to be helpful. They can be a guide for first time parents when so many of us have literally no idea what to do when we bring home our new creation.

So I will step off my grumpy soapbox and stop railing against the wellness industry. There’s much more important things going on today! It’s the final day of the federal election, fingers crossed for a Liberal win!