Bath bombs, face masks and pretty journals - the age of avoiding one’s responsibilities in the name of self-care has reached its ultimate peak.
Thanks to social media and its influencer disciples, we now know that their online facades of a perfect life aren’t actually as glamorous behind the camera as we thought they were. So why bother with ambition when success has always been an illusion in the first place? You could waste your time harassing employers on Linked-in and parading your (only partly dishonest) CV on networking sites, but that double chocolate cheesecake seems way more deserving of your attention. Influencers also give us the occasional reminder that perfect bodies and blindingly bright teeth are a product of photoshop, before resuming to posting their painfully arched backs and sucked-in bellies on Insta afterwards. Editing apps are so user-friendly today that even your grandfather can figure out how to blur out his wrinkles, so he looks like the shiny surface of the cheese that’s been sweating in your fridge. The conclusion is that there’s no need to be successful, when all you have to do is look like you are, and you should rather focus on relaxing after all the hard work you’ve done to maintain that online alter-ego.
After all, isn’t life already oversaturated with suffering and pain? Why go through the effort of learning how to cook healthy meals, work out and enhance your talents, when our earth is going to kill us anyway? You might as well speed up the process by continuing to buy your ready-meal sodium bombs and late night take-aways, using your car to pick up the neighbour’s cat next door, and take that hot, long shower you deserve after a long day. This is not the time to take responsibility for the mortal and slowly deteriorating machine that is your body, let alone nature. I mean, what has she ever done for you other than giving you shitty, rainy summer days and mosquito bites? It’s time to sit back, relax and slowly see your life wither away into meaninglessness and trash TV. Oh, and you better not forget that face mask you got for a fiver that will add absolutely no quality to your current life. Also, here’s a subtle reminder that self-pity is your ultimate way out of confronting your responsibilities in the name of self-care. You get to cook your skin in a hot bath and get praise for looking after yourself, instead of taking steps towards progress that might actually improve your life. Seems like a good deal, no?
Our current idea of self-care is your avoidant partner who doesn't want to compromise, or even listen to any points on your list of tasks that might get you to a better place. The spread of hashtag self-care and self-love on social media isn’t helping either. However, imagine an Instagram feed that doesn’t show you snapshots of colourful, zero carb food, pretty bath bombs and artsy, doodle-esque journals. A feed that doesn’t try to compensate for an unhealthy lifestyle with a misunderstood idea of body positivity, or replace a lack of discipline and drive with filtered snapshots from someone’s last holiday. Imagine scrolling up and down on your screen in the morning, and seeing pictures of people that have come together to connect through food, music and activism. Snapshots of people that have realised that loving your body means learning how to nurture it, how the one thing that can help you feel good when you don’t is helping others, and the value of feeling connected with the ones around you that face the same challenges as yourself. Imagine seeing a pool of pictures and videos that share how the most empowering thing you can do for yourself is to take responsibility for what you can control, and then using that power to help those that can’t. If Instagram was a source for people to actually make a contribution, come together to create things, and share them on the network afterwards to mobilise others, we might not have to spend hundreds of pounds a year on self-help guides, or expensive and promising workout plans and “booty bands”. Perhaps a dinner shared with others and some paid bills will be just enough.
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