Melissa Kelley :: SELF-CARE IS AN INSIDE JOB
Mainstream conversations have spun self-care into a commodity that many people have come to equate with opulence and luxury.
This positions self-care as something outside of ourselves, as something we need to ‘get’ or something we must ‘consume’.
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t’s time to get real about self-care. I am exhausted and disheartened with all the ways our culture has grossly distorted the concept of self-care and how we are “supposed” to practice it. One does not have to look far or dig deep to encounter a deluge of noise all touting the overused #selfcare.
It. Has. To. Stop. We are inadvertently cutting ourselves off from the very core of what sustains us. Externalizing an interior process keeps people cycling on the hamster wheel of stress, pain and dysfunction. This deepens the cultural disconnect between body and mind, fosters comparison to others, perpetuates feelings of shame for not “getting it right” or not having access to resources, and fuels the search for magic pills and quick fix solutions. It’s time for a re-frame. How about we all just take a sacred pause and stop to contemplate for a moment. What if we actually got to know the “self” we are caring for? What if we started to source our self-care from the inside out? If we approach self-care from this angle, it doesn’t take long to begin to see that you cannot “hack” your way to wellbeing. Yes, there are certainly some simple things we can implement for ourselves to make life easier and more enjoyable, but as a rule I don’t believe in a fast track to wellness. Self-care is about the long game. I know because I’ve been walking this path my entire life. I have memories of beginning to observe and track my own stress response through my teenage years. Anxiety and dysfunction were prevalent energetic
