Are You Obsessed with a Quick Fix?

Do your health symptoms get thrown all sorts of quick-fix remedies from the bathroom cupboard or the latest health fad? Yes, we all want painful symptoms to go away but this approach to healing could be keeping you sick.

I often get asked by friends, family and clients – “is ‘X’ good for ‘X’ health problem.” Or “I heard that ‘X’ can heal this ‘X’, what do you think?”

An obsession with “a quick fix” has dominated the modern approach to healing. Gone are the days of seeking wisdom from our experienced elders, taking time to heal and convalescing. Oh no. Illness is disruptive, unnatural and vexatious.

Instead, pass me that symptom suppressant. I’m just too busy.

Disease and niggling symptoms are the body’s signs that something’s awry. This fact will never change no matter how much we advance technologically. With the increase of modern living pressures – longer work hours, study requirements, financial burdens, job security – the demand for a quick fix is reinforced. The pharmaceutical industry loves it.

Our healthcare system is now built around the quick fix. If you have an uncomfortable symptom, you go to the doctor for ‘quick’ symptom relief. For example, if you have period pain you’ll often be given painkillers or the contraceptive pill. If you have allergies you’ll be given anti-inflammatories or immune suppressants. And if you have abdominal bloating you might be told to take buscapan or even anti-depressants. Just. Make. It. Go. Away. Now.

“For anyone to truly heal themselves they need to abandon the idea of the quick fix.”

Because doctors are pressured to see so many patients in one day, it’s almost necessary for them to give you a quick fix. It’s their duty of care to help in some way. All too often these pills and “remedies” are given without addressing the root cause of illness. Nutritional deficiencies, exercise, lifestyle changes, diet, mindset, environmental or relationship stress and unhealthy belief patterns aren’t factored in. No one has time anymore.

Does it change when you visit a natural healthcare practitioner? It depends. Natural medicine may offer a healthier approach then medication – yet often the core issue may still not be addressed. This will depend on you AND your practitioner’s philosophical views to healing, and also your expectations and what you demand. The mentality that a few supplements will make your period pain, acne, anxiety, allergies or abdominal bloating go away still has the same “quick-fix” approach – and fails to deal with the underlying causes.

The natural health industry isn’t immune to this either. I’ve seen my fair share of natural healthcare companies push their products with this ‘quick-fix’ mentality, convincing consumers that a ‘natural’ alternative for their symptom relief is superior. But is it really?

As a caveat, there is absolutely nothing wrong with quick-fixes, I personally believe that painkillers are one of the greatest inventions. Thank God for anaesthetic. However it’s a serious problem when quick fix medications or ‘band-aid supplements’ become long-term treatment, with no replacement in sight.

For anyone to truly heal themselves they need to abandon the idea of the quick fix. Health imbalances are multifactorial and it’s time to start looking at healing in the same way. Please, for your own sake – if you have a long-term health condition, know that it might take time to heal, and will likely require a collective of therapists, modalities, lifestyle changes, and more than a handful of supplements to bring relief and deep healing. You may not be able to change society’s encouragement of the quick fix, but you can make the decision to be patient and committed to your healing so that the results are long-lasting, not temporary. Which to me, sounds like the most intelligent, honest and transformative approach. Which I know deep down is what we’re all searching for.

This is my cue to let you know that I whole-heartedly approach healing in this way. If you’ve got the commitment to your health then I’m all in to help you create a personalised natural treatment plan. Read more about my naturopathic skype sessions for how I can help you transform your health issues in a gentle, nourishing way.