By Roxane Gay — 2021
Legal protections against pregnancy discrimination are one thing. Actual feelings of security are another.
Read on www.nytimes.com
CLEAR ALL
So many of the little rituals I have each day—like my makeup or skincare routine—do help soothe and/or rejuvenate me. For me, any type of solo practiced routine is good. But I’ve learned that self-care does not, and cannot, sustain me. And I believe that this may be the case for many of you.
Embodied practice creates the potential for a unifying perspective and it can inspire new ways for activists to participate in community outreach, sisterhood, and self-care.
I learned very early that to survive in this broken world there is a never-ending need to “support, nurture, and protect what we hold dear” to keep it from being damaged, hurt, or destroyed ……which also includes myself.
To understand how the term “self-care” has evolved, I dug into the history of the phrase. The term has origins in medical research, but its leap from academia to public awareness can be traced back to the Black Panther Party and Black feminist writers.
As the fight for racial justice takes place against the backdrop of the global pandemic, the need for regenerative self-care services that center Black women has never been more apparent.
Adjusting your attitude is easier than you think.
New research demonstrates parental burnout has serious consequences. As defined by the study, burnout is an exhaustion syndrome, characterized by feeling overwhelmed, physical and emotional exhaustion, emotional distancing from one’s children, and a sense of being an ineffective parent.
Should you let that comment slide, or address it head on? Is it more harm than it’s worth? We can help.
Between taking children to school and managing other to-dos, some days it may feel like you don’t get a minute to yourself. And even when you hear about, self-care, you may dismiss it as frivolous, unnecessary, or even selfish.
When your child is sick in the hospital, it can feel like you’ve entered an alternative universe. That heartache hit me like a tidal wave while caring for my desperately ill son in two children’s hospitals for eight months straight in 2015.