Zines as Self Care? Yes!
I’d been reflecting on my time with context to self-care in the past few weeks. During the lockdown, my self-care activities changed immensely because of the change in the structure of our everyday lives. Earlier my self-care was more about staying indoors and watching a film, but now that stepping outside randomly is not the idea, I had to incorporate some other self-care ideas that I may not be used to!
So when Priya called me up to ask if I’d be interested in doing a DIY self-care zine on Instagram live, I was all up for it! I had been making zines for three years but didn’t really see it as a self-care activity. It was more of a creative outlet, sometimes even an anger outlet. Plus, I hadn’t created a zine in some time due to my work and study load. The idea of creating a self-care zine was in itself a new activity of self-care to me.
What is a ‘zine’? What is ‘self-care’?
Although I made zines, I didn’t really know a lot about their history until my partner, who hails from the country of corn-dogs, showed me some aspects of it me.
A zine is a DIY publication in terms of batch and content, traditionally, easily reproduced through photocopying, folding, stapling, or so on. The history of zines and its influence on the recent revolutions in the States is definitely something to learn about! In India today, zine festivals provide a safe and independent platform to people from various communities, to share their thoughts, experiences, and hopes, which we may not get to read through mainstream publishers.
Self-care on the other hand is a deliberate activity that encompasses just about anything we do to be kind to ourselves, in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Some activities of self-care can be journaling, exercising, observing nature, and painting. It is important to integrate self-care into our life to prevent possible burnouts. When practiced correctly, self-care has long-term benefits for the mind and the body.
However, it’s important to note that not everything that feels good is self-care. We can all be tempted to use unhealthy coping mechanisms like overeating, procrastinating, or risk-taking. But these activities can be more self-destructive or harmful than good.
Although I’ve preached the good things about self-care above, sometimes we may find ourselves unconvinced of practicing it regularly. Maybe we end up thinking that our resources are better saved for working on something else or helping someone. (that’s okay, even I do that sometimes). However, I can guarantee from personal experience the benefits of self-care are greater than we can recognize or observe right away.
The good thing is that self-care is such a personal activity that we all get to choose our own! To practice our most loved act of self-care helps create a loving and compassionate bond with ourselves.
Priya, Michael, and I set up Instagram live on the 9th of August. It was the first time for Michael and I on an Instagram live, so we didn’t know what to expect. There were technical glitches during the call but it wasn’t enough to hamper our process, thankfully. We started by showing a form of paper cut and fold instruction for the zine. It was definitely pleasing to see some people join in the process and ask questions during the live! The challenge was to quietly create the zine and place the phone camera in a way that can show the process of creating the zine.
I personally really enjoyed drawing, writing, and pasting stickers on my zine! It was great to see the uniqueness and different forms of zines that resulted from the hour’s session. The aim to create a self-care zine was to remind ourselves of the activities that we love to do when we want to rejuvenate or take care of ourselves! One common thing I noticed in our zines was a reminder ‘to breathe’, to take a pause even for a few minutes, in our daily life.
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Written by Ishita Mehra
Ishita is an illustrator and a mental health advocate from India, currently juggling projects and examinations along with the uncertainties of the lockdown!
