Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and BubbleBaths Not Included)

by Pooja Lakshmin

fared. In this article, I hypothesized that what we had all been calling burnout was actually something different—it was societal betrayal at its most disturbing level.

You can’t self-care yourself out of a forty-hour workweek with no childcare. Buying a new day planner and going to yoga won’t change the fact that you bear a disproportionate share of the mental load.

“Being exhausted is not how we’re supposed to be navigating this world. It’s true trauma.”

We live in a system that has never presented women with a full option of choices. Our social structures have constructed an environment where women’s unpaid labor is the default.