self care & self keeping ⤴
the more I think about it, the more I consider self-care and self-keeping to be two similar but distinct things:
self keeping: the day to day business of staying alive, being responsible for yourself, and remaining healthy
self care: the deeper practices of awareness and tending to higher-level needs
self-keeping » simple things that help me
people I'm following (instagram)
- hannah daisy, @daisychains – hannah is an artist and mental health advocate. her #boringselfcare illustrations look like badges that celebrate achievements like "had a shower" or "picked up my meds." hannah's work is often based around mental health, intersectional feminism, queer identity, cats and chronic illness.
- victoria emanuela & caitlin metz, @onbeinginyourbody – the first time I came across the term "self-keeping" (I think) was on one of caitlin's posts. caitlin and victoria's work is about...well, how to be human. it's a project to help womxn, queer, and non-binary humans to reclaim their bodies through art, writing, and human connection. I love the vibe, the illustrations, and the thoughtfulness of OBIYB and am interestedly following along as the project evolves.
a guiding quote
“Your purpose in life is not to love yourself but to love being yourself.
If you goal is to love yourself, then your focus is directed inward toward yourself, and you end up constantly watching yourself from the outside, disconnected, trying to summon the “correct” feelings towards yourself or fashion yourself into something you can approve of.
If your goal is to love being yourself, then your focus is directed outward towards life, on living and making decisions based on what brings you pleasure and fulfillment.
Be the subject, not the object. It doesn’t matter what you think of yourself. You are experiencing life. Life is not experiencing you.”