Self-Care is Freedom

Freedom from Body Shame, Society’s Standards, Diet Culture, Self- Limiting Dialogue

Dana Falsetti writer, yoga teacher, educator, speaker + advocate Instagram: @nolatrees danafalsetti.com

Over the last few years, we’ve all watched wellness and self-care move from the back burner to trendy and fully commodified. It’s always a bit of a double-edged sword when this happens. The good news is these important issues are now on our minds and we are paying closer attention to how we take care of ourselves. That’s a win, because now we can begin to think critically about our collective needs and how to better serve them. The downside is that diet culture is often hiding just behind the tempting face of wellness, and self-care has turned into purchasable, beautifully packaged products and PDF downloads that can end up leaving people sidelined. When the public begins to care, brands and influencers waste no time in finding ways to profit. Something that should be attainable and accessible to all is placed on a pedestal only some can reach. And let’s not disregard the power of marketing, imagery and internal narratives that have been cycling for years, all reinforced by this kind of commodified wellness. It’s easy to forget that we are all deserving of healing—and there are ways to seek it that don’t cost a thing.

Diet culture is so insidious that it’s often right in front of us, but we can’t sense it—crash dieting reinvented as restrictive “clean” eating, movement for wellness (but often really weight loss), and conversations about health that miss the mark on how dynamic it truly is. We have an obsession with food and the truth is that no matter the intention, that obsession can lead to mental health challenges and disordered eating. What can start as a means of wellness can land us right back where we started or, even more precarious, thinking we’ve healed ourselves only to realize the demon has taken on a new name. It is essential that we heighten our awareness of these issues and where they may be hiding in our own lives, in our own narrative in what we absorb and internalize, and remember that true self-care is freedom—freedom from body shame, society’s standards, diet culture, self-limiting dialogue, the burden of eating and what we consume, ableist approaches, and a one-size-fits-all image of health.

Self-care also doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be inaccessible. It doesn’t have to look like a spa day. It doesn’t have to look like a purchasable 30-day program. It doesn’t have to look like what you can take part in to win the race to the self-care finish line. Self-care definitely doesn’t just look like thin white women drinking green juice in trendy yoga gear. It doesn’t have to look like privilege. These are all tactics that often funnel diet culture to those who have the narrative and the means to care, while leaving out so many people who are equally in need of this kind of freedom. Where do fat bodies belong in these wellness spaces? Where do people of color belong? Where do people with very limited resources belong? Is self-care for them, too? Let’s not lose sight of the fact that most of what we buy and spend our resources consuming wouldn’t exist at all if we were truly at peace with who we are or had the tools to seek out that peace. And even if we wanted those things, not everybody can afford or access them. If we really had the toolbox of self-manifested and contained resources to bring us back to our humanity, so many of these products couldn’t exist. Consumerism tells us we need more purchasable things to be enough, or to be less of ourselves, and neither is true. The truth is that self-care and self-love can be available to all of us, and they are already within us.

I see self-care as coming home to who you are and nourishing that person’s needs. It’s selfawareness. It often looks like the mundane list of chores we’ve been avoiding: Doing the dishes. Moving our bodies for a few minutes each day. Putting time and energy into getting through all the things that are causing us stress. Giving ourselves space and permission to take up our own. Taking the time to breathe and invite mindfulness into our lives. Getting present. Setting boundaries. Standing in power. Protecting our energetic resources. Self-care is sustainable, accessible, and it’s free(dom). The next time you feel overwhelmed by what you need, try turning inward instead of looking outward for the quick fix or for the answers. You are autonomous. Awareness and selfinquiry bring us to ask the right questions, and from there we can truly understand our needs and know we are worthy of fulfilling them. Cheers.