written by Michele Alcime
It is important to find communities for black women and girls while we are on our personal development journey because the ultimate purpose of personal growth is to ripple through the collective and raise consciousness. We have all heard some version of the saying, “the more we take care of ourselves, the more we take care of each other.” It is more than just another feel good theory. It is proven that taking care of ourselves (whatever that means to you) influence our patience with our kids, understanding of our partners, and loyalty to ourselves.Self-care and healing is a daily practice, not a temporary fix. The very premise of life is the pursuit of wellness so it is important to assess the effectiveness of our self-care practices because it sets the course of our lives. We must evaluate how we show up in the world and the ways we choose to invest in ourselves. Black consumers spend a trillion dollars each year on white owned brands and most of the money is spent on trivial things. This is why it is imperative to begin taking our wellness serious within our own communities. Black people also contribute 86% to the ever expanding 64 million dollar Ethnic Hair and Beauty Aids Industry.
Sacred settings for Black women and girls is community and an acknowledgement that there are billion dollar industries built around the taming of our hair, nails, the glowing of our skin, and the restoration of our esteem and most of that money never reaches our communities, which is why its imperative that we build our own.Understanding our buying power and influence in the marketplace is understanding how we take care of ourselves. We have to become self-aware to know where our story began to form its thesis to truly develop an effective self-care practice for generations to come. There is a price tag on self-care and those of us who have not decipher what it means to truly take care of ourselves can seek it to our detriment. Beyond frivolous spending in white owned companies in pursuit of self-care, we can find ourselves in cycles of detrimental practices in our daily routines. We can justify working at companies where we are overworked and underpaid because we have to take care of ourselves and our families. This is quite honorable but it is still one of many ways we misunderstand what it means to take care of ourselves.Ask yourself:
- What are you pursuing for the sake of self-care?
- How do you feel when you are in the midst of that activity?
- How do you feel a few days, weeks, months, or years later?
- Can you create a sacred space for yourself?
There is countless information debunking the myths associated with self-care and exposing the ways white owned corporations and companies capitalize off of our emotions. Because we largely consume from a space of emotion not necessity, it is important to take time to learn the things that truly bring peace to our soul and clarity to our path. Just as there are love languages, I believe there are self-care languages. We have to create these safe spaces by ourselves for ourselves rooted in our truth and love.