#babevibes#methods<strong>of</strong>selfcareBabe Vibes, at its core, is self care. <strong>Self</strong> care is an action,as is calling yourself a babe and speaking to yourself withaffection and love. You are a powerful, mighty babe whodeserves radical care and love. Take care (<strong>of</strong> yourself).A BABE VIBES PUBLICATION© Babe Vibes 2014babevibes.com
TAKE CARE(OF YOURSELF)<strong>Self</strong> care is an idea that has<strong>of</strong>ten inspired guilt, shame,and overwhelm in my life.I grew up in a religiousenvironment that taughtme to believe the self wasthe enemy — the ultimatehurdling block between meand God (“happiness”). I wassupposed to give up myself,and give it to God and others,without any direction on howto do this, or at least anyway to do this without beingoverwhelmed with disgustwith myself. I was taught Iwasn’t worthy <strong>of</strong> God’s loveand that I should live my lifewith that knowledge, with a“gratitude” that even thoughI was despicable, God lovedme anyway. This is a verydangerous way to think,this sort <strong>of</strong> self-awarenesscan and will affect how you“let” people treat you andit removes all tenderness,grace, and forgiveness tooneself. There wasn’t anyacknowledgement thatenvironment and cultureteach a lot <strong>of</strong> untrue anddangerous things aboutcertain groups, particularlywomen and young women,and how the reasons you feelbad about yourself are trulynot your fault, but ideas thathave been taught to you sincebirth.Later on after I left that way<strong>of</strong> thinking, I was still wary<strong>of</strong> self love and self care. Itmade me feel inadequate.“Everyone is beautiful”rhetoric can only go so far,particularly in a world wheredaily experience — andthe systems that supportit — exercise the exactopposite. It took me a whileto understand my aversionto self-love, until I realizedthat I wanted confirmationthat it wasn’t my “silly,stupid, woman-brain”creating these feelings, butrather the very real system<strong>of</strong> misogyny. I heard oncethat self care was an action,not a final place <strong>of</strong> being andthat really shook me. <strong>Self</strong>care and self love are actionsyou can perform and <strong>of</strong>tentimes they will change howyou feel, but if you don’tfeel it that’s okay too. I alsohad to remember that eventhough I “<strong>of</strong>ficially” left thatway <strong>of</strong> thinking, that it didn’tmean I was going to unlearnBY KARA
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