I haven’t written here in over a month. I’ve been trucking on with this project and honoring my original intentions, but I haven’t been up for writing about it or documenting it. Which in some ways feels like a bummer, but in other ways feels okay. I think something I have learned from this near year (can you believe it?) project is to just be gentle with myself. Which sometimes means that I don’t write here for a month or more. I have intentions of getting back on track and writing more for the next 55 days, but if I don’t do it, it won’t be the end of the world either.
I’ve been thinking a lot about self-care and what it means for me now that I’m nearing the end of this project. I’m still figuring it all out, and while this project is intensely personal, it has also been about my community and how we take care of each other. My most memorable, heart-filling self-care has actually been more about intentional time with friends and supporting one another (and there is often food involved) so that we can get through the next day, week, month just a little bit easier. And I think ultimately that is what I will take away from this year: self-care for me is community care.
Here is a much more eloquent article on a similar topic by the brilliant Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. As a chronically ill, working class femme myself, these words truly resonated. Please check it out and support her if you’re able.
Radical Self-Love 