When you hear the phrase self-care, chances are you fall into one of two camps: You either want to retch violently or you want to raise a glass of wine in tribute (one that you’re somehow managing to drink while lying face-down on a massage table). Arguably, both responses are valid. The practice of self-care has strayed from its radical roots — more on those in a second — and evolved into a posh solution for myriad modern-day ailments, including but certainly not limited to long workdays, tense family gatherings, political conversations, and circling the parking garage at the Grove two days before Christmas.
But in its more nascent form, self-care, which surfaced as a term in the 1950s, was far less luxurious.
Before it became synonymous with the larger wellness movement, self-care was something doctors and health professionals encouraged among elderly and