Beware Some Self Care Advice...

Fair Warning:  Try as I do to avoid being snarky, this is a rant, and it's in response to snark itself. 

Self Care has become a buzz phrase over the past several years, and as such, has often been reduced to watered down sound bytes that leave far too much room for interpretation and imagination,...

..So when I saw this meme on Facebook, it just about made my blood boil.  The sanctimonious, sarcastic tone implied in it goes against everything that self care is about, and it does so with a condescending, judgmental and holier-than-thou tone. 

First, let me just be pedantic for a second and ask "What is a soft bath?"  My guess is that the author meant to say 'bubble' bath, or even 'warm,' or 'hot' bath, but was in such a hurry to spread their 'smug'musings that they didn't bother to proofread the meme. 

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's unseat said author from their high horse... let them know what self care is about.  (And yes, it is about long, hot bubble baths, and chocolate cake,.. and so much more.)

Self care is about 'taking care of yourself.'  And a lot of people don't really know what that means, or how to do it. 

So, for those of you who don't know (and for the author of that self-important meme if you happen to ever get to read this response to your pretentious musings)...  

Self Care is about 'growing.' 

It's about personal growth. 

It's about taking care of your own physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual self so you can grow as a human being. 

P.I.E.S.

P.I.E.S is the acronym we use to describe how to practice self care. 

It's what it means to 'take care of you.'  

It's also how we combat the 'sound bytes' like 'work on yourself,' being interpreted as 'you aren't good enough,' and how we fight against the sound byte 'put yourself first' being used as an excuse to be selfish. 

And it's how we respond to contemptuous memes like the one that drove me to write this post... 

One last thought regarding that haughty meme... the idea that self care is about 'creating a life you don't need to regularly is escape from' is idiotic. 

It implies that the only people who need self care are people who have a terrible life. 

WRONG!

We all need self care. 

And... there are some life issues that are going to make life difficult for anyone, which no amount of self care is going to fix.  Though taking care of yourself, can and will help.