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:
We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:
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!
You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here
For today’s discussion: How have you come to think about the role of self-care in your life? What’s the line between a self-care motivated boundary… and not doing anything you don’t want to do?
