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Ive never been much of a bath person.
Getty / Amy Frazier
Perhaps its because the water gets tepid too fast for my taste.
Or becauseI have OCDand the thought of cleaning myself in a liquid germ-swell isnt that appealing.
A bath is certainly not, as the internet would have me believe, my road to self-care.
Or, I binge-watch creepy foreign series.
(Have you seenDark?
But nobodys marketing Netflix as self-care.
Yet the term on everymillennials browserhas most definitely been commoditized by other industries.
pop in in self-care books on Amazon, and you get20,000 results.
(Unless, of course, the history texts glazed over the S mans passion for bath bombs.)
The other category of self-care studies takes aim at medical pros themselves.
In 2008, one Psy.D.
In 2012, the APAamendedits ethics code to include the importance of self-care among practitioners.
On a basic level, theres the fact were all desperate for that magic anxiety-reducing bullet.
Over the past few years, the self-care industry has become, well, an industry.
Or how many people take a vacation, and on the plane coming back theyre just as stressed?
Its attitude and where your mind is, not just what your body is doing, he explains.
Watching it makes me happy because it makes me think about you and Mom, Sarah says.
And I can imagine our convos about some of the story lines.
It brings her joyand takes her mind away her stressorsbecause it reminds her of people she loves.
Love, it so happens, is crucialand not just for others.
Self-care is a product of loving ourselves.
Like Deutsch (andHuey Lewis, if you happen to be that old), Luskin believes in love.
The biggest self-care is let yourself love and be loved, he says.
But its hard to do that when youre so busy you cant think.
To our nervous system, this is a sign were in danger.
If bathing reminds you of the awesome time you had visiting the Turkish baths, bathe on, sister.
(This is not an affront to beauty products.
I love beauty products!
I was a beauty editor for nearly 12 years.)
ONeill herself makes self-care a part of her day without shelling out a cent.
I set aside no phone timeswhen Im exercising or with my family, she says.
It makes me feel good to use something my dog can lick off my face that soothes my skin.
Plus, olive oil is so creamy it just feels very yummy.
(Wait, I ask, the dog literally laps it off your face?
Oh, he loves olive oil!
He always licks it off, she tells me.)
Your legs are so frickin soft.
If every single day you ask yourself, What nice thing did my partner do for me today?
your heart will get warm and fuzzy, and you think, What can I do back for them?
In that moment, youve had both self-care and other care, he explains.
Its goopy and cold and it feels good to do something messy as a grown up, she says.
Ellen Zguta, director of e-commerce site operations at a fashion company, uses this strategy.
Meanwhile I was sitting on my couch watchingScandalwith my dog.
Which brings me back to what I want to be doing: scouring Home Goods.
But theres that other necessary element: consciousness, which is key for my creepfest binges too.
I felt a twinge of irritation.
Couldnt he see I was typing?
Couldnt he ask my husband to admire The Catcher instead?
Couldnt I get a GD minute to myself?!
I felt happy, and proud, and lucky.
A bit giddy, even.
Then, I chose.
I got up and went downstairs to admire The Catcher.
And that, my friends, is self-care.
