the sam smart guide to anti-consumerist self-care

how i stay sane and beautiful every day without spending money on unnecessary things or overworking myself <3

opinions of me are kind of a mixed bag. some people who know me think i have it together effortlessly, but most probably (correctly) see me as a bit of a basket case. when my mom showed me the breakfast club as a young teenager, she told me i remind her of ally sheedy’s character allison, “but prettier.” this obviously didn’t offend me at all, i agreed with her. i was objectively a shy, nervous teenager. and i looked a bit weird.

capitalism-driven “self-care” culture was really big when i was in my late teens, where self-care meant taking a hot bath and using a lush face mask so you could go back to work the next day as more than just an empty shell of a person. it was very centred around the idea that self-care is there to keep you being a good cog in the capitalist machine, because if you don’t take care of yourself and burn out beyond repair, you’re useless to the powers that be.

eventually a lot us would attempt to dismantle the idea that self-care is just bath bombs and spa days so you can get out of bed the next day and go to work. rather, self-care is actually taking care of your body and mind in order to live a happy fulfilling life. but that didn’t change my impression of the idea as it applied to myself. i still believed that i didn’t deserve self-care, because i didn’t like myself at all. i subconsciously saw myself as a person who deserved to suffer, and didn’t deserve to feel like a full human being. it also translated into working terrible jobs where i wasn’t valued at all.

but in the last few years i’ve put a lot of effort into taking care of myself. years of insomnia and a plethora of mental health issues have caught up with me and basically made me have to take care of myself, because i kept having mental health crises and meltdowns. my therapist told me that self-care is as simple as feeding yourself, basic hygiene, moving your body and doing absolutely nothing sometimes. and even though i feel like i already knew this, it kind of blew my mind. self-care is not only that daily maintenance though, it’s also caring for your dignity.

so after treating myself like this for years, i’ve had to find out what i need to do to feel human and to be kind to myself. so here is my guide to caring for yourself in a world that encourages overworking yourself and purchasing expensive things to feel better about it.