Healing is not a one-time event. This holiday I learn that, if you
find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it’s because
you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with “treating
yourself” and a whole lot to do with parenting yourself and making choices for
your long-term wellness. True self-care isn’t always about salt baths and chocolate
cake, rather it is making the choice to build a life I don’t need to
regularly escape from.
It’s seeing everyone on holidays, yet
you feel blessed to be lock-in. It often means looking at my failures and disappointments
square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating my immediate desires.
It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is
making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won’t, so
maybe I can enjoy in a way that most people can’t.
It is letting myself be normal.
Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes not having to take on the weight of
responsibilities over my shoulder and just enjoy what I love doing. It means
being the hero of my own life again. Self-care is becoming the person I
know I want and are meant to be. I enjoy my salt baths and chocolate drink in a
way to enjoy life – not escape from it.