It’s Friday afternoon, and I’m very dysregulated, that much even, that my executive function and emotional regulation was and still is temporary offline! Meaning I want to have a go at something that has been bothering me, and today I’m posting it!
Words We’ve Rebranded!
Words are not a neutral thing. They carry meaning, weight, and power… and sometimes, that power is sold back to us.
Take wellness, wellbeing, and welfare. Wellness it almost shines and glitters, marketable, visible. You can buy it: a gym membership, a class, an app. It feels like health… but mostly, it’s a product, or a membership!
Wellbeing has a deeper meaning and is harder to measure. It’s how we actually live, connect, and feel. And it is not neutral as many like to believe.
Welfare is structural, societal, shared responsibility, safety nets, support systems, often overlooked or erased from the conversation. Yet for the un-trained, it can be a burden.
I feel some things should never be commodified. Yet we see gyms promising “longevity,” certifications costing hundreds to become an “autism coach,” and wellness programs selling what used to fall under welfare.
Knowledge, experience, and life itself are being packaged as products. Words like longevity, wellness, and expertise get monetised, and suddenly, not buying in feels like lack even if your life is already full.
Words aren’t wrong, but culture edits them, marketing repackages them, and listeners interpret them through desire, fear, and social power.
Meaning shifts, and people feel missing where there was none.
Wellness is something you can buy. Wellbeing is something you live. Welfare is something we share.
Longevity is not for sale. Words can’t be sold like that… but we keep trying anyway. Cultural capital can be beautiful but it also can have a bitter aftertaste, just something to think about!
Hopefully next time Gentleman Jack comes home with a more romantic musing.
© Elke T.B. Stevens, 12/08 – 09/10/26
Leave a Reply