Today is The International Day of Self-Love. I keep a calendar of days of stuff and things, to decide whether or not I want to celebrate them. I like the idea that every day should have purpose: to remember, reflect or celebrate. This is a good one. It’s important to take time to care for yourself, especially if this isn’t something you usually do. Women in particular are societally conditioned to care for others above themselves.
Yesterday was not a good day for me. Nothing horrible happened – don’t worry. But it was a day of not achieving and feeling rather slumped and tired. It’s okay to have a bad day. Today will be better. I will achieve my goals and I will do so thinking of Audre Lord, a self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.”
After she had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time, Audre Lorde wrote in a new book A Burst of Light: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Self care is radical. Let’s have a radical day today.