“The definitive factors in determining whether someone is in good health extend significantly beyond access to care and include the conditions in their life and the conditions of their neighborhoods and communities.” — John Auerbach
DECONSTRUCTING SELF-CARE ADVICE:
When I speak with my friends – and others – about self-care it often feels like a privileged conversation. I say this because there are many people who have limited financial resources, and real material deprivation, that often interferes with their access to the resources necessary for adequate self-care, and good health. However, most people – including helping professionals – sometimes give self-care advice that is not always consistent with real world living situations. I work in the non-profit sector, where precarious work, daunting workloads, low pay, and chronic emotional burnout has become normalized. I also live in a major urban center, where the price of living outpaces most people’s pay check. However, I do have the life skills and finances (marginally) needed to advocate for myself, and to apply the topical self-care practices required to maintain good health (i.e. sleep, yoga, meditation, social support, etc.). With that being said, I am also powerless to change the larger social/ systemic issues (i.e. neoliberalism, poor government policies, global and environmental unrest, etc.) that largely impact me on a personal level, and that often blunts out some of the formerly noted self-care efforts. However, I also recognize that compared to many Canadians I am very privileged. With this in mind, I try my best to be sensitive to the real world situations of others (who might not be as fortunate as I am), before I try to give healthcare advice (however well intended).
CONNECTING SELF-CARE TO ACCESS:
I am often concerned when I hear social workers (and others) doling out topical solutions (i.e. sleeping, meditation, yoga, positive thinking, etc.), as an antidote for the individual stress/stressors related to larger social and or systemic issues. The usual “one size fits all solutions” to self-care can often alienate, and further increase a person’s stress level – especially when that advice is given to the most marginalized, and vulnerable, service users (or individuals) in our society. For people who are living “well below” the poverty line, who are working more than two minimum wage jobs, and who have to often choose between rent and food, sometimes survival is self-care. And, to be fair most people have good intentions, when they offer topical self-care advice. For example, I think that Arianna Huffington had good intentions when she noted that a lack of sleep can have “profound consequences – on our health, our job performance, our relationships and our happiness”. Of course sleep is good for our health. However, we have constructed a world where not everyone has the privilege of being in a position where sleep is an option (especially single parents, working two or three minimum wage jobs, or caring for loved ones). Again, most people have limited financial resources and real material deprivation that often interferes with access to the very resources necessary for adequate self-care.
While I have no real or tangible advice regarding self care, in the sometimes worrisome world that we live in, I would like to offer up one suggestion: unless someone is in the financial or emotional position to make use of the usual topical self-care practices (i.e. sleep, meditation, massage therapy, travel, etc.), please do not offer them up as solutions, especially in situations when a person’s stress is attached to – or caused by – larger social or systemic issues. We need to always try to remember to meet people where they are (emotionally and financially), and to also try to provide advice that speaks to their reality.
Social Agency 180 