Reclaiming "Self-Care" from the Brands
Episode description
We’re at the point where we know a bullshit attempt to commodify our burnout when we see it. No one’s buying the self-care spiel the bath bomb companies are selling us. But the rhetoric of self-care has crept into the workplace, family dynamics, and TikTok therapy speak, usually divorced from any critique of the systems that make self-care feel necessary in the first place. Pooja Lakshmin MD, author of Real Self-Care, joins the pod to answer your very smart questions about contemporary self-care in workplace trainings, in conversations encouraging everyone to GET A HOBBY!, and in advice to perfectionist women to “lower the bar.” Pooja is so clear-eyed and compassionate — and I think this episode will make you feel seen and challenged.
Show Notes:
Subscribe to Pooja Lakshmin MD’s newsletter, Real Self-Care
Read my interview with Pooja from 2023:
Re: menopause / perimenopause scams — I like this Dr. Jen Gunter piece from last year
If you missed the episode from earlier this month on Therapy Speak
Want to see the art from our AAA asker, Erin? It’s here, and it’s beautiful!
HISTORICAL ROMANCE (will neither confirm nor deny that we have a co-host whose confirmation made Melody faint)
By popular request, all things fan fiction!
Pre-teen influencers
Budget Culture + Specifically Budget Advice You Find Dubious
Dark Academia
How cookbooks get made
Spiritual care for non-religious people
Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment — WE REALLY NEED MORE!! You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!
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