“There was a good 10 years where it felt like somebody had a boot on my chest.” This is how Justin Vernon—known as Bon Iver—describes the season before making his most recent album, SABLE, fABLE. After years of relentless touring and the weight of fame he never expected, he says it all “eats away at you”—the overwork, the anxiety, the crushing sense of being overrun by it all. He couldn’t keep going in the way he was going. He reflects, I’m finally . . . in this place where I’m like, I’m OK. Boohoo, I thought I’d have kids and a wife and that kind of love in my life. But what I’ve discovered is the most important thing is just to be where I’m at and to feel OK. You may have been through a similar season: near collapse, anxiety attacks, or a sense of dread of what life has become. Vernon’s arrival at “I’m OK” represents real resilience and a hard-won settledness. We might describe this feeling as “balance,” a sense of having the mental, emotional, or spiritual resources that make us feel buoyed in the face of life’s turbulence, pressures, and difficulties. Many of us long for that feeling. I was sitting with a young woman in pastoral care who was expressing doubts about her faith. She struggles with anxiety, but a Buddhist coworker she knows doesn’t. To her, his life seems so balanced and measured, so put together and unbothered by the stress the rest of her coworkers feel. She felt his spiritual resources were deeper. Don’t we all want to be more balanced? Well-Being Culture These desires to be balanced and measured—to feel OK—are part of an increasing, even marketable, trend. Since 2019, the wellness-app industry has generated over a billion dollars annually. Many young adults are demanding more flexibility at work, willing to take lower pay in exchange for better work-life balance. You might say we’ve entered a well-being culture. Our highest goal isn’t to feel only good but balanced. We’re anxious, attached to our phones, drinking too much, working too much, not healthy enough, not eating right. And now, many are eager to change these realities. The problem with well-being culture isn’t its diagnosis—mental, emotional, and physical health are real needs. The issue is that it lacks a coherent vision of what well-being is. DISCOVER THE GOAL OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION | 
