Self care is often regarded as the intentional act of taking time to look after and indulge in yourself in a world that constantly asks you to give yourself and your time over to other people.
In the last five years, magazines and online spheres have become flooded with self care culture. After decades of photoshopped models and diet cultures, this is incredible. We now live in a world where many mainstream news outlets and celebrities champion loving your body the way that it is and looking after your mental health. However, this revolution is not without its shortcomings.
Problem #1 - Self Care Doesn't Need To Be Expensive
The main problem with self care is that is has become an industry. If you associate self care with facemasks and bath bombs then you are not alone. Many beauty companies have profited off of female insecurities for years. They have constantly told us that we need more products to improve our skin and to conceal our imperfections. In the wave of the self care revolution, many consumers are rebelling against this and choosing to love themselves despite their flaws. However, when consumers stopped buying as many products, beauty companies decided to take a new approach. Many companies now appear to encourage self care and will flood us with advertisements for products that they claim will help us to relax and indulge ourselves instead. But the issue remains that we are led to believe that we need to spend money and buy certain products in order to love and look after ourselves when this simply isn't true.
I don't think all companies are evil and trying to manipulate us (though some of the bigger ones may well be). Instead I think this is just a product of a self care revolution emerging in a capitalist society that measures progress with money. Many people created self care companies that had wholly good intentions, they wanted to provide people with products that would help them to relax, but it still fuels the belief that self care is about products.
The truth is that how well you are able to look after yourself shouldn't depend on how much you can afford to spend on skincare. We should all be able to show ourselves the same amount of love, no matter how much money is in our bank accounts. And more importantly, the philosophy of minimalism shows us that the ability to let go of our material desires is the key to happiness. Therefore, spending less money on self care could, paradoxically, make you even happier.
Problem #2 - Self Care Products Usually Aren't Sustainable
The second problem with the emergence of a profit driven self care industry is that sustainability isn't often their priority. Many self care products are made from or wrapped in plastic. (You can read this blog post to learn more about why plastic is such a big problem.) Others contain chemicals that are harmful to the environment. I don't know about you, but I do want to live in a world where taking care of my self involves harming the environment.
Problem #3 - Self Care Isn't Always Pretty
And the final problem with the self care industry is that advertising wants us to believe that self care is an easy and enjoyable task, all we have to do is buy a certain product. The reality is that truly taking care of yourself isn't always easy and sometimes it feels as if we have lost sight of this.
Melanie Murphy put this excellently in a vlog. She said: "Lovely bath bombs, manicures, buying new shit, fancy healthy food, facemasks, this is probably what comes to mind when you think selfcare. Absolute luxury. These things are great and I enjoy them, I'm not going to lie, but that ain't it. Self care isn't indulgence. It's responsibility and it isn't always very sexy. It's doing what you need to do to thrive for yourself and for those around you and sometimes that doesn't look how others dress it up on Instagram with hashtag ad. Selfcare is cleaning up after yourself, its going to the dentist, its getting a smear test, its doing workouts even when you're really really really not in the mood to do them. Sure, self care is about feeling good but not everything that makes us feel good is actually good for us. If you want to care for and love yourself you have to take physical, emotional and mental care of yourself. Self care is hard but it's so worth it."
I personally believe that the self care revolution is incredible, but we need to be mindful of these problems when we approach it. Here are some of my suggests for a sustainable self care routine (remember that sustainable means something which you are able to maintain and doesn't just mean environmentally friendly):
Have a relaxing bath or shower to make yourself feel clean (if you have luxury products that's great, but you don't need them).
Read a book or watch a film.
Do some crafting (hobbies with require you to use your hands can be the most relaxing).
Tackle an item on your to do list that you have been avoiding forever but will actually only take 5 minutes (for me this is usually something like phoning the bank).
Plan your upcoming week and schedule things you mean to do but have been avoiding such as working out or going to the doctors.
Facetime or call with a friend.
Cook yourself a healthy meal or do some meal prep for the week ahead. (This is calming and your future busy self will be grateful).
Declutter your space.
Workout, meditate or do some yoga.
Schedule plans to do something fun with a friend.
Go for a walk or spend sometime outdoors in nature.
Please leave your suggestions for sustainable selfcare activities in the comments!
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