Self Care: Ritual or Remedy?

With the arrival of self-professed healing routines and in an era of pricing self-assurance and worth, comes the omnipresent problem of commercializing measures that help you achieve self-care. The prospect of self-care enforces a mindset of putting your needs first without having to bear more than what you can handle. Alternatively, Self-Care has become synonymous with ritualistic purchases of beauty, health and therapeutic products that have been overly priced to meet the basic requirements that will bring solace to our souls…or to convince us of that anyway.

This sets a precedent for our generation; demographics reflect the adolescent angst and revival of autonomous methods of regaining an equilibrium for success and happiness. Some of our ambitions mechanize success or happiness to reflect a materialistic definition. The usual solution then, is a materialistic antidote to cure our typical problems. Ironically, Self-Care has been marketed to suit a capitalist intention, which is to humanize material products that could perhaps cure our inner workings – but raptures into a further decline of misinterpreting affordability. If propaganda is universally convincing us that the use of certain expensive types of food or beauty products can produce a sustainable level of inner glow and joy, a lot of us must rid of the temptation to purchase these posh beautifully-marketed products, because we are unable to afford ‘Self-Care’.

This defeats the purpose of having a holistic approach to Self-Care if it ultimately excludes most people. Commercializing Self-Care alienates the actual problem at hand: the problem persists as prices go up and have no sign of coming down. This also fills in a problematic void: ‘Is Self-Care only suited to caress materialistic desire that somehow has an inherent connection to making us feel good about ourselves?’. Self-Care itself is not a product of material possession but a holistic instrument that steers you in the direction of positive self-reflection and self-acceptance. Self-Care does not necessarily have to abide by certain products that ought to bring you warranted happiness. Self-Care does not have a price label, and so shouldn’t you.

Practicing Self-Care doesn’t solely equate to having material items that will bring you happiness; Self-Care teaches you that happiness is not bought but felt. We cannot deduce that price tags determine self-worth. You are not what you buy. You don’t need to estimate your worth according to the products you use.

Self-Care has more to do with the life you choose for yourself without having to rely on needless materialism that has been thrusted upon us by big businesses to conform. Putting yourself first, taking care of your needs and wants is what Self-Care exemplifies.

• expensive
• happiness
• money
• reflection
• self-care