Is Self-Care Hurting Your Pockets?
The over-commercialization of self-care
Self-care has now become synonymous with spending money on your appearance and this is problematic.
There is no doubt that the marketing and advertising industry have played an influential role in this. We are told to take care of ourselves, go to the spa, get our hair and nails done, and that if we don’t do this we don’t value ourselves.
Don’t get me wrong, If that’s how you define self-care, then it’s fine to hold this view. However, we must be careful not to make it the only way.
The concept of self-care means different things to different people, it also doesn’t have to be grand.
For instance, self-care to me means prioritizing yourself and taking care of your, mental, emotional and physical being. You might choose to spend 30 minutes by yourself before the household wakes up, or read a chapter of that book you say you will read one day.
It can be hard to do, as self care is ultimately an individualistic pursuit. In fact in some cases, it can be a hard concept for some people to accept, especially as it goes against what they have been taught growing up.
Having grown up in a society that values communal needs over individual needs, I was taught to always consider the greater good. I always had to consider if my behavior was infringing on the rights of others and if it is, would I be labeled selfish or inconsiderate.
In my efforts to meet others’ needs, I neglected my own. I found this especially prevalent when I became a parent. As a parent, I forget my needs and instead focus on raising my child and fulfilling his needs. As a result, I became a shell of who I once was.
Yes, ‘No man is an island’, however, finding a healthy balance between looking after yourself and caring for others is also important.
My identity had to be rediscovered outside of my parental role. The way I see it, Self-awareness is crucial to recognizing your needs and figuring out how to meet them. In order to practice effective self-care, it is essential to be self-aware.
This is where individualized self-care comes in. Self-care could mean taking care of your physical, mental, or both needs, depending on your situation.
But the issue is, nowadays, self-care has become over-commercialized and too expensive.
With the beauty industry taking self-care to a new level, they market their products under the guise of self-care, using influencers to promote this narrative. Unless you take precautions, you can easily fall victim to this mindset and crave self-care you don’t need.
The pervasive nature of social media means that oftentimes, we are trying to keep up with the joneses by trying to copy our favorite celebrity/influencer lifestyle- in this case self-care. The accepatble and loudly parroted consensus is that if your self-care doesnt look like your favorite celeb’s, then you are doing it wrong.
You see the problem here?
The problem with this is that self-care has shifted from a personal experience, to one of blind followership. And blind followership dictates that the only way for your self-care to be recognized is if it appeals to the capitalist agenda- spend money to feel good.
But that shouldn’t be the case.
When situations like this arise, you must take a step back and ask yourself if you are really doing what’s best for you or bending to society’s whims.
The commercialization of self-care poses a problem in the new generation because most of us look for value in consumable products/services. By focusing on products and services over discovering who you are and what you need, it removes the beneficial aspects of self-care. This can make self-care seem burdensome, expensive, or tedious.
Self-care should be an individualistic concept defined by you and only you.
Your self-care will look different from mine, as it should. We need to block out the noise of what self-care should look like and go back to the concept of self-care being individualistic. Self-care doesn’t always have to involve purchasing a good or service; it can be as simple as scrolling through tik tok videos on the toilet.
