What's the difference between taking herbs for healing versus prevention?

I think of this like the difference between medicine and food—though in herbal wisdom, the line blurs beautifully. When you're healing from something acute, you're often using stronger preparations, higher doses, more frequent intervention. The herb is meeting a crisis. But prevention is subtler. It's the daily cup of warming ginger tea in winter, the adaptogenic herb that steadies your nervous system before stress hits, the bitter leaf that gently keeps your digestion toned. Prevention is what you build into your life so that crises become less likely. In my years of practice, I've noticed that people who prevent well don't usually need to heal dramatically. Their bodies stay resilient. The preventive approach asks: What does my body need to stay balanced right now, in this season, at this stage of my life? Rather than: What do I take when things break? Both are valid. But true wellness leans into prevention—not obsessively, but with the same care you'd give a garden in spring, before the weeds take over. Start noticing what minor imbalances appear before major ones. That's where prevention lives.