August is National Wellness Month. The observance runs Saturday, August 1, through Monday, August 31. Awareness Days dates the full thirty-one days. Thursday is day six. The clinics are still booking. [1]

Live Love Spa founded the month in 2018 under Lisa Michaelis, aiming to move wellness from luxury treat to everyday habit. National Today still lists the month as a health holiday that also lifts spa and product revenue. [1][2]

WebMD Health Services told HR readers in late July to use August for walking meetings, lunchtime strolls, and visible manager self-care. [3]

X treats the month as aesthetic. Employers treat it as a campaign window in a slower summer. A walking meeting is not a primary-care visit. A spa promotion is not a deductible. The paper's Wednesday service note already split those waiting rooms. The month is twenty-five days long after Thursday. Habits need a calendar. They also need a clinician who is not a brand. [3]

August will fill both waiting rooms. Day six is still a booking season, not a mood board. The paper's position is service, not scorn. A walking meeting is not a deductible. Thursday the clinics still book.

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago