Self-Care?

I think this post may not be of popular opinion, but can we talk about "self-care?" This trend of everything being labeled as self-care has really been on my mind and frankly I'm not sure I even have a full, well rounded thought about it.  If you look on Instagram the hashtag self-care has been tagged 17.1M times! 17.1! Million! And if you take a few minutes to scroll through it consists of quotes, bubble baths, snacks, selfies, products and lots of BS. This notion of self-care is for the consumer, for the mother who needs a label for taking an hour to get a haircut or needs a reason to be eating a cookie or drinking a glass of wine or reading or exercising, etc, etc. As Carrie Bradshaw puts it: maybe some labels are best left in the closest... maybe when we label people we forget to look past the label to the person. Now, clearly that is not a super direct comparison, but the point is labeling. Labeling everything as self-care versus living? Versus wanting? I wanted this so I did it. I needed this so I treated myself. I'm not saying let's not take time for ourselves to recharge and rejuvenate. And, of course we need to nourish our souls before we can do that for others. But, must we label it as self-care? All we're doing is becoming a pawn in the world of marketing. Self-care is such an empty term in my opinion. It's like people need to be patted on the back for running from one child's activity to the next or prepping food for the week or crockpotting or working 60 hour weeks. Adults have been doing these things since the dawn of time, and mind you successfully, without needing a pat or a label or a nod from the adult sitting next to you or a wink and cheers for grabbing that juice cleanse deeming it as self-care. Again, not a well rounded thought, but a concept that seems to be draining and trite in a time when I think people are really needing more than a label. After Googling around to make sure I wasn't the only one in the looney bin I came across an article in USA Today from Jan 2019 titled: Has self-care lost its way? It describes my point perfectly... "Powered by collective stress, bolstered by social media, and commodified by brands eager to exploit people's desire for self-improvement, self-care has evolved from an individual act to a mainstream movement - and market - where the lines between true wellness, social media performance and self-criticism blur." Do we agree? Of course! Ever come across a post from a friend about their "self-care" activity and think well, damn! I need that too! I should be doing that! Why aren't I doing that? Not in a comparison is the thief of all joys way, but more of a wow, they had time for that kinda why. Still with me? Anyway, I'm guessing my point is let's remove the label and let's get back to true wellness, true needs, true wants. Let's identify whether our "self-care" habits are really for the soul or have they become apart of a bigger labeling machine? Food for thought - a messy, not well round thought, but a thought!