@the_amazing_goose thankyou for this!!
I definitely agree with you here. I think that the way we conceptualise self-care has become increasingly complex and confusing in our culture. In particular, there's been more recent ideas circulating that self-care needs to be something that is objectively good for you or for your body (ie exercising, eating well etc etc). While I think that these things can be fantastic ways to practice self-care I think that it also places a lot of unnecessary pressure on self-care as a practice, and encourages judgement around an individual chooses to do self-care.
The ways that I myself practice self-care tends to be incredibly varied, based on my mood and energy levels. On a rough day sometimes self-care is drinking a full glass of water, or listening to a favourite podcast and on others it might look like setting time aside to do a more effortful activity that I really enjoy doing.
Thankyou for the reminders that there are no rules, and that to put aside time for me, this is really validating 💙
