MISSISSIPPI WELLNESS

Strengths and Weaknesses

We began this Substack two years ago with the idea of helping our home state thrive. We still think of Mississippi as a ‘perfect storm for wellness’, and we’ll be exploring this in depth in an upcoming series of posts.

First off, we acknowledge that there are many individuals here who work hard everyday to keep their minds mentally active, their bodies physically fit and well fed, and/or their souls spiritually nourished. This series, however, is from a bird’s eye view. We’re writing about Mississippi as a whole: its natural resources, culture, heritage, academics, governance, philanthropy, development goals, and more.

Secondly, we also acknowledge that we three are not prefect ‘wellness walkers’, despite being personally involved with many wellness endeavors: Alison’s books on natural approaches to healing, Marion's and Nancy’s real foods cooking, fermenting, and teaching, food policy and farmers markets, sustainability, homesteading, women’s wellness retreats, kids’ nature camps, backyard chickens and goats. Yet, despite these efforts for well over a decade, we still walk each day knowing wellness is a personal journey that often eludes us like many others.

It would be easier if we lived in the ‘culture of health’ that we often reference in writing. But we do not. Our people excel at many things - sports, art, writing, music, science, hospitality - to name a few. But we do not excel at wellness and we are not a ‘culture of health’.

And yet we could be. Mississippi has many strengths - like the ability to grow ‘real food for good medicine’ year-round and locally, like being a home and family-centered culture with a unique talent for sociability. Unfortunately, these gifts are not now turned toward wellness. But they can be.

Thankfully, localism, regeneration, wellness, and related efforts have been growing and evolving for some time. This Substack platform alone is home to a number of writers who value regeneration and the power of alternative views to strengthen democracy and protect freedom of choice. As we search for like-minded Substack writers who value wellness and local and regeneration, we will share our recommendations with you. Meanwhile, anyone can search substack.com for their personal interests and we encourage you to do so.

In upcoming posts we will explore in greater detail what we believe to be our state’s strengths and weaknesses as they relate to wellness. We welcome your thoughts on this topic over the weeks ahead. So hang on, we’re going in for a deep dive.