I've noticed that I write a lot of articles about self-care, as I'm kind of obsessed with the concept. There's definitely an upward trend in millennials caring more and more about self-care and I couldn't love it more. It's so important to love yourself and this generation has embraced it like no other. So in the spirit of the holidays and the spirit of giving, I'd like to advocate for a misunderstood form of self-care: giving yourself a gift for the holidays.
I say that this is misunderstood simply because I feel like it comes across as selfish in most cases. How can you justify spending money on yourself in a time when you are supposed to be giving to other people? But no one should ever feel like they can't give themselves as much as they give everyone else. In fact, it needs to be more socially acceptable to give yourself as much as everyone else.
I'm not saying that when gift shopping we need to be looking to give ourselves the biggest chunk of our holiday budget but don't be afraid to work yourself into that budget. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do that this year as my holiday budget was already pretty tight. But I decided to buy Rihanna's newest red lipstick (a product that absolutely lives up to its hype) and somehow I actually think I enjoyed buying things for everyone else even more.
I knew I had appreciated myself and my incredibly long year by giving myself something. It felt selfish for a minute and that's a feeling that most people will also struggle with. But it also felt really good. Like I've been mentioning in almost every article I wrote this year (sorry about that), I had a rough semester and I've been working harder than ever before. While it feels really good to use the fruit of my labor to share with the special people in my life, it also felt really good to give that to myself too.
It's a feeling that truly cannot be replaced and it made me want to keep giving. It helped me to feel the way that I think we're supposed to around the holidays. We're supposed to be appreciating what we have and you have to appreciate yourself. I hope the trend of self-care never goes out of style. Ever since I've adopted it, I've felt a lot better about myself and I'm glad I found a way to carry it through the holidays. And I'm glad that I found a culture that lets me feel good about loving myself just as much as I love myself.
The holidays aren't an excuse to turn your back on yourself. Buy yourself a present, I know I'll be enjoying my bright Rihanna-red lips.
