A few years ago, I asked three of my closest confidantes to describe me. Two were good friends, the third was my mother. What followed were two kind, lengthy replies and one abrupt sentence: “You are someone always looking to better yourself.” Thanks Mum. So in 2018, when Self-Care hit the world like a freight train, I had already meditated my socks off, bought the yoga mat and familiarised myself with Eckhart Tolle. I’d been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt. But I hadn’t actually bought the T-Shirt because there were no T-Shirts to buy before 2018, and suddenly there were. So last year, I bought a T-Shirt. “Extreme self-care” is plastered on the front and there are a bunch of rituals listed which you should probably practice, like buying flowers and booking pedis and putting on a face mask. These are all quite easy and fun and achievable and when you get down to the essence of self-care it really is quite easy and fun and achievable. Until it’s not.

Image credit: The Wing