Self-care is a compelling subject. Like so many other skills, it really must be cultivated. It is not always modeled for us and, in fact, growing up we may have witnessed many examples of the opposite: self-soothing through drugs, alcohol, food, TV, pornography.
To make sense of addiction as a young person is impossible. Instead we inherit confusion and somatic habits that lead not to self-care but self-loathing. We create and play out destructive narratives. How we process these states of trance varies and is further affected by gender, race, class, orientation.
How do we embody wellness and self-care? We begin somewhere. First and foremost, we follow the joy. If joy is solitude or more time in nature or pursuing a creative project, that is where we look. With curiosity, wonder. Self-care is always available to us, generally it can be found near the beating heart at the center of pleasure.