Tracee Ellis Ross On Self-Care Through Solo Travel & Choosing Wholeness Over Wellness

She adds, “I feel like I’m a child of the world. Growing up this way allowed me to understand that, even though people may not speak the same language, we are all the same. And that allowed me to feel safe anywhere. The things that make us different are what make life so robust and textured.”

Being the daughter of a global superstar taught the Black-ish actress that home is a part of her no matter where she is, leading to her tendency to overpack with “compassion.”

“Because of the magnitude of my mother’s life and the way she mothered, I know that home lives inside me,” she says.

“I can find and create a home wherever I am. It’s part of the reason that I have a lot of compassion for my overpacking — because home just comes with you.”

Because the 50-year-old haircare CEO found herself in many foreign places at an early age, she shares her struggles with trusting new people early on but realized it's a natural result of her upbringing and has learned to extend herself grace around it.

“Another result is that I’m not great with new people. I used to have so much shame about that,” Ross reflects. “But I realized, if you think back to my childhood, it would be weird if I trusted people immediately."

"The more I get to know myself, the more compassion I have for myself. The other funny thing that is a result of my upbringing is that I don’t have a sense of adventure.”

While it may come as a surprise to many people, due to her colorful personality and eccentric style, Tracee confesses that she identified most with being an introvert who enjoys her alone time. “I play an extrovert, but I’m an introvert. I love my own company and my world is very quiet,” she says.

For Tracee, wholeness is the goal for her overall well-being. She avoids the concept of “wellness” as it implies the potential for being unwell. However, she appreciates the concept of wellness for its emphasis on self-care and self-honor.

“I don’t adhere to the idea of wellness, because to me it means you could be unwell,” she explains.

“For me, it is about wholeness, which makes space for the well and the unwell, the happy and the unhappy, the scared and the courageous — all of it. But what I love about the idea of wellness is that it conjures how you take care of yourself.”

She continues, “It’s about how you honor yourself. One of the questions I’ve been asking myself since I turned 50 and am coming out of one chapter and moving into another is: How have I honored myself today? As opposed to: What did I accomplish today? How do I want to honor myself through mind, body, and spirit? Focusing on how you honor yourself is a big part of staying well.”

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