A solo date sounds cringe but it's an important act of self care
It's not just for single folk or a sad sack booby prize
About to head out on a solo date last summer
Self-care used to be a buzzword, and now is in its dirty-word era, where intoning it elicits a wrinkle of the nose. It started a number of years ago as a way of empowering people to make small choices to benefit their mental wellbeing, and then soured as people wondered if it was being used to justify opting out of things, and generally being selfish.
As someone who has experienced a depressive episode and continues to periodically experience anxiety episodes, I think what we define as self-care is important. For instance, I don’t think it’s about cancelling on people and then posting a snarky little meme, or bubble baths, or putting on a snood and binge-watching whatever is Netflix’s catch of the day.
For me, self-care is about being able to a) pursue activities and lifestyle choices that positively add to my bucket of mental wellbeing so that when/if shit hits the fan, I’m operating from a place of fullness. And b) being able to self-regulate my energy levels so that I don’t end up again in a place of burnout. Anyone who has ever experienced the latter, will know that it is a terrifying process of almost losing yourself, and takes so much more work to claw your way out of, than it does to incrementally and regularly take steps to prevent it from happening.
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