What happened before the solution?

I’ve been watching a lot of commercials on Hulu lately, since I don’t wanna pay to not see commercials. One that keeps coming up is for a supplement and medical (I think) company called “Hims” and “Hers.” I’ve seen these programs enough to notice some pretty troubling patterns. For example:

“Hers” talks primarily about depression, anxiety, hormone-related support. How we feel down and isolate and how their supplements can bring us back to life.

And “Hims?” It’s erectile dysfunction. Every. Single. Commercial. “Get hard and stay hard.” “Lots of men have trouble with ED, but you don’t have to.

The juxtaposition of these two messages within an hour episode of a series is that women need help managing their emotions, while men need help managing their penises. And friends, I’m just so elfin’ 🧝 tired of the dumming down of the needs of women and men for that matter, that I could spit.

I fully support mental and sexual health interventions and I’m glad they exist. We need medical support. But we are so used to the before and after that we fail to recognize that the space between these two points in time - the conflict - are where humanity happens.

We don’t hear about the moment where a woman wonders if this is all there is and is confused about whether or not it’s her mental health, or just her life. We don’t hear about the feelings of a man who is experiencing ED and whether or not the pill reconciles these thoughts and emotions. To me, the stories hold an important aspect of the solution.

Last year in my work, it was about meaning-based-movement- and it still is. But this year, I’m interested in diving deeper into the conflict - the grey area - where the humanity happens. My hope is that in exploring what lies beneath the solution that the marketing plan is promoting, we might learn a bit more about how to best advocate for our health and wellness.

You’ll see these themes arise in my classes, gently of course, through blogs, emails on the podcast. And yes - I’d love some help! If you have a story about navigating through inner conflict, I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email with 150 words that sum up your story and I’d love to help share it with my community through an article, podcast or expert chat.

As always, thanks for reading this and just know that if you’re in a place that hasn’t been reconciled, if you’re in process or conflict, this is what being a human is all about. But you don’t have to go it alone. Please reach out if you need help navigating your next steps.

Here’s to the grey zone xoxo

Much Love,

Jenna