I like to conceptualize taking care of my wellness by picturing Lady Justice: a blindfolded woman holding scales, weighing what is known–much of which will be uncovered to be total bullshit in five years’ time–with what is unknowable, unforeseeable, unplanforable.

I don’t always make great decisions with my health. I’m confronted with that fact every time I find myself sitting in the McDonald’s drive-thru because my S.O. is in the throes of a “Mac Attack”. I don’t always make great decisions with my overall wellness, either, like when I entertain the notion that there’s even something wrong with indulging his unfathomable craving for Thousand Island dressing and shredded lettuce on occasion, or that it’s going to matter when, in five years, a breaking report will come out and tell us that the preservatives in McDonald’s pickles reverse the progress of cancer cells, but are actually poisonous, so it’s kind of a wash. (I dunno, just guessing here.)

If you’ve been on Pinterest, you know that supplements and foods to tackle specific, targeted troubles are pretty popular. Smoothies to take on swelling, yogurt bowls for tummy troubles, get-better lattes and immune-boost juice. And while science can waffle around about whether it’s as effective as promised, the consensus seems to be that it’s far more likely to help with that concern than a Big Mac.

I’m taking turmeric, cinnamon, kava kava and some protein powders. I’m not sure if they’re doing anything to help my swelling, metabolism, mood or hunger-levels (respectively), but it’s nice to think I’m doing something proactive. That’s a medicine of its own kind. Not as effective as taking a walk or doing a push-up (I try to do those things on occasion, too!), but it’s definitely buoying my emotional health, so that’s cool.

And crystals. With the latest flash of feminism has come the resurgence of witchy beliefs and 70s spiritual practices. Essential oils, yoga, crystals, plants, reiki, trigger point massage… it goes on and on. While I definitely ascribe to a lot of witchy beliefs, I’m aware that crystals as healing tools are more or less bullshit.

Except. If you suspend your disbelief and let yourself think something is helping you with an issue, is that bullshit? If you meditate with an object and use it as a visualization tool, that’s having an effect, isn’t it? No I don’t believe my selenite tower is ~raising the vibration~ of my office, but gosh if it isn’t a little wonder, full of an incredible interplay between translucent and opaque that is kind of otherwordly: it’s known as a peace and happiness stone, and I don’t need to believe anything beyond my own eyes to understand that association. Having it in my office just feels good, and that’s definitely contributing to my overall wellbeing.

Here’s what I do know: unless I get my hands on some loose plutonium – and so long as I keep going to the dang doctor – I can be more or less sure that science is never going to tell me that crystals are directly bad for me. In a world where it’s become abundantly clear that studies touting the benefits of chocolate were more or less corporate-sponsored bullshit, thats a nice certainty to have.

More pointedly, 2017 is a vicious hellscape. I’m just trying to keep it together. Crystals sure are pretty and if that isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.

Sometimes, you gotta take a small step with your wellness that maybe flies in the face of “logic” or “reason”. Sometimes, it will heal you. Sometimes, it’s just balm for your spirit. And that’s okay, too.