Forget self-care. To feel better in this world, we need collective action, says Massey lecturer Astra Taylor
Forget self-care. To feel better in this world, we need collective action, says Massey lecturer Astra Taylor
‘You can't meditate your way or exfoliate your way out of this crisis’
It always bothers me that professionals and experts have to call down to us at the bottom and make suggestions to us as to how to handle or deal with the world's problems.
The attention should be more focused on those that wield power and influence in the world we live in.
We can't do much down at the bottom because we are too busy trying to survive. Those at the top have all the power and influence to make our lives more liveable or more difficult.
It's not about self care ... it's also not about learning to feel better about our world ... it's about seeing and understanding that there is just a small group of people that are manipulating our world into the insecure space we've all contributed to.
It's like the parable of the blind men and the elephant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
We keep talking about the bits and pieces of the problem ... it's this, it's that, it's over here, it's over there ... but we are never able to step back to see the whole picture of what we are experiencing.
Self-care is important, though. Without caring about and for myself, I would never have left shitty employers behind. Now, of course, self-care is something pushed by those who want us to suck it up and live with shitty policies.
Yep. Self care, but you need to sit in traffic, come to the office, do the work of two people on a project that has unrealistic deadlines, for pay that lets you enjoy absolutely nothing in the free time you do have. And absolutely no self-care on company time.
Why not both?