If you haven’t heard of the term, chances are you’re living under a rock or you simply don’t have social media, which is a good example of self-care at practice, in my opinion. But whether you’ve heard the term or not, I believe it’s important for us to understand the true meaning of ‘self-care’ and not fall victim to the marketing ploy brands have warped the concept into being.
By marketing ploy, I’m talking about the endless posts of influencers holding body scrubs, wearing face masks or pretending to use their new electric epilators (you could not pay me to use one of those), all of which seem to come with the #selfcare. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love pampering myself as much as the next gal (or guy), but to tie the concept of self-care purely around cleansing your pores and moisturising your skin is misleading and ultimately driven by capitalistic motivations.
So, what is self-care? Personally, I’ve discovered that no matter how many Lush baths I take or overly-expensive face masks I use, the stress that has been building up due to uni/work/life in general never really dissipates. Instead, it subsides for some time and then, just as I am about to enter a deep slumber, my mind rudely reminds me that rather than completing one of my many assignments, I’d decided to have a bubble bath and go on a Netflix binge.
With that said, I’ve come to the conclusion that self-care is not as fun as Instagram made it out to be. Instead of pamper nights and pizza, I found that the concept actually involves working hard, addressing emotions that you’ve bottled up over time and really pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Like I said, not as fun as Instagram made it out to be.
Today, I’m practicing self-care by heading to the coast and writing (this blog post in fact), taking time to sit with my thoughts and doing my laundry- a chore I’ve been putting off for too long. As mundane as that all sounds, I know that I’ll feel feel a million times better for it.
