Why Selfcare Is More Than Just A Hashtag

Wellbeing continues to be a phenomenon that is taking over our social spheres – it’s all over Insta so its clearly important.

With the increased focus on wellbeing and mental health hashtags like ‘Selfcare’ and ‘Selflove’ are now trending and we’re all proclaiming selfcare is our focus for 2019. But with anything that’s trending, criticism soon rears its ugly head. Critics (or trolls) are calling the hashtags gimmicks and just yet another fashion fad for us all to follow (it’s the avocado on toast debate all over again).

This urks me. So what if talking about selfcare has become a trend. Surely that’s a good thing? As someone who has battled anxiety and depression for years a consistent focus on wellbeing is my saviour. I’ve always been incredibly ambitious and driven, but couple that with anxiety and it’s a pretty toxic mix. I’ve been ultra critical and unkind to myself, consistently judging and prodding, striving for perfection.

Our instaworld does not nothing but perpetuate this further, making it harder to feel you can embrace who you are and instead feeling like you’ve got to strive for perfection.

But this focus on selfcare reflects a much bigger and significant shift in our culture – we’re REJECTING criticism of ourselves. We’re still striving to be successful, strong, and SLAY ALL DAY, but we’re also acknowledging sometimes that’s bloody HARD. We need time to recoup, reenergise, rest.

This is so much more than just a hashtag – it’s a movement that is changing behaviours for the better. We’re prioritising kindness, we’re acknowledging our weaknesses and we’re PROUD.

I’m aiming to build in one kind, selfcare moment into each day and I’ve found the amazing Action For Happiness positivity calendars a great tool to making small changes that build up to bigger positive impacts.