Selfcare vs. Community Care
It’s self-care Sunday 🧖🏽♀️ but let’s flip the script a little bit!
Self care is wonderful. I’m a huge fan!
AND
We need more than that for us to thrive collectively.
Expecting people to rely solely on self-care is a cog in the colonial white supremacist patriarchy machine that we’re working to dismantle.
It’s an extension of western individualism.
Shouting at someone who is struggling under systemic oppression to just “Pull yourself up by your sheet mask!” is not helpful.
What we need is community care.
Community care hinges on our ability to develop reciprocal relationships. We must trust that our needs will be met and in turn we commit to leveraging our privileges to meet the needs of others.
What does that look like?
Showing up for your community. Sharing resources, including time, money, opportunities, and access. Allowing your community to care for you when you’re in need.
This could be anything from going to a protest, making dinner for someone who is sick, treating someone to coffee, covering for a co-worker who needs a day off, checking in on you IG friend who hasn’t been online in awhile, giving someone a ride, mowing your neighbor’s lawn, and so much more.
Anything you can do to unburden someone else is community care.
So, how are you taking care of each other this week?
