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In 1943, noted American psychologist and researcher Abraham Maslow developed a theory of human behavior that gave us a concise model for understanding what motivates us. Most important, Maslow recognized that our most basic needs for survival and procreation must be met before we can address the higher-level needs most people aspire to in modern society. The relationship of these needs is most often represented by a stacked pyramid, as shown in Figure 2.2.

The way to understand this pyramid of needs is to start at the bottom. Without our basic needs met—food, water, shelter, and safety—people simply don't have the time to be motivated by love or a sense of belonging. Further, without a sense of love and belonging, most people are unable to develop a sense of esteem, the feeling of being well regarded and respected by others. Without esteem, self-actualization—the full realization of one's true potential as a human being—is impossible.

Figure 2.2 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow published his landmark theory in 1943 in the midst of World War II, and the huge reception it received was no accident. That terrible war destroyed cities, enabled the Holocaust, and ushered in the nuclear age. World War II cost tens of millions of lives. Its successful conclusion with the victory of the Allies created an unprecedented period of postwar prosperity and relative peace that lifted billions of people out of subsistence living into the higher rungs of Maslow's hierarchy.

Here's the point: The postwar economic expansion of 1946–2020 is what most of us alive today recognize as “normal.” But it was not normal at all. It was unprecedented. Throughout almost the entirety of human history leading up to World War II, the vast majority of humanity eked out their existence on the bottom two rungs of Maslow's hierarchy. For 200,000 years of homo sapiens, there was simply no room in most people's short, hard lives for other pursuits.

As practitioners of wellness, we know that a few people have been pursuing Maslow's higher levels for centuries. We can point to the ancient healing arts of yoga, Ayurveda, Reiki, and traditional Chinese medicine, as well as the ancient roots of Western medicine and science, including Hippocrates, Galileo, da Vinci, and Newton, as evidence that people have existed at Maslow's higher levels for centuries.

We must remember, however, that these people were rare exceptions. In every case, they were either members of or closely connected to the elites of their day. Nearly everybody else in their day—more than 99.9 percent of humanity—lived at a bare subsistence level. Only in the past 100 years have their principles and discoveries been accessible to large portions of humanity.

That all began to change after World War II, when rapid advancements in science, engineering, education, health care, and food production began to lift tens of millions of people per year out of poverty and subsistence. That progression produced a steadily increasing number of middle-class and affluent people across the world, culminating in an historic “tipping point” in 2018, when for the first time in human history, there were more middle-class or affluent people than there were poor people (Brookings Institute, September 27, 2018).

This is important because it is the middle class and affluent who are afforded the opportunity to pursue the higher levels of Maslow's hierarchy, and chief among those is wellness. As the Brookings Institute points out:

Those in the middle class have some discretionary income…. They can afford to go to movies or indulge in other forms of entertainment. They may take vacations. And they are reasonably confident that they and their family can weather an economic shock—like illness or a spell of unemployment—without falling back into extreme poverty.

As we entered the 2020s, more than 4 billion people enjoyed this standard of living, and while the severe disruption of COVID-19 may indeed cause many to fall back economically for a time, the underlying postwar trend of rising living standards and reduced poverty will undoubtedly continue. It is important to embrace this truth for three reasons.

First, this truth helps us understand the massive expansion of wellness over the past forty years. The wellness movement is neither an accident nor a passing fad. It is the natural outcome of a societal imperative created by decades of rising living standards.

Second, this truth points to the massive growth opportunity in front of us. The wellness industry will most assuredly grow in the decade ahead, regardless of short-term recessions or other disruptions, and COVID-19 will inevitably act as an accelerant.

COVID-19 was a huge wakeup call in every nation on earth to improve the wellness of their populations. The impact of the virus and the societal disruptions it has caused have been terrible. The truth we must all face is that the worst outcomes and the most deaths have overwhelmingly occurred among those who were unwell to begin with. It turns out that biggest COVID-19 killer isn't the virus itself; it is the poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyles and stress that lead to the so called “preexisting conditions” of obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. This is what left so many people around the world unprepared to fight off the disease.

In addition, we have all simultaneously participated in an unprecedented social experiment. The months of sheltering at home and extreme social distancing required to combat the virus created secondary and tertiary impacts on all of us. In addition to so many small businesses impacted and so many jobs lost, we are all experiencing the mental, emotional and social impacts of sustained isolation. We have seen it in our loved ones and we have felt it in ourselves. Regardless of our age, socioeconomic status, or political leanings, we are all emerging from this crisis with a consensus around one point: That is no way to live!

In the wake of the pandemic that consensus will surely kick off a rennaissance of advancements in medical science and a broad social agreement that wellness is truly important. We can all find comfort in the knowledge that the next time a novel virus comes around we will far better prepared. At the same time, government and business leaders, public health officials, doctors, and healthcare workers will recognize the paramount importance of wellness. They will finally accept the inescapable truth that an ounce of wellness prevention is worth a pound of cure, and they will set into motion the policies and initiatives that address the root causes of the preventable diseases that made COVID-19 so much worse—sedentary lifestyles, poor nutrition, and stress. Wellness will therefore become a public health imperative for decades to come, and that will usher in a new age of wellness.