Self-care is not a modern concept

Self-care is all the rage in 2019.  Everyone is talking about it.  But I don't think it's really anything new. 

People have been talking about how to care for ourselves in different ways for eons.  It's just re-marketed.  

Don't get me wrong.  I think self-care is important and valuable and needed.  But it's not NEW.  What is new, perhaps, is the more nuanced perspective.  50 years ago, it may have been talked about as the right way to live and prescribed as "Wake up early, do your calisthenics, eat an apple a day, smoke a cigarette to stay thin, brush your hair 100 times every night, say your prayers" and whatever else was popular.  

Maybe I'm making all of that up or confusing decades.  In any case, today it is more about your individuality.  We are recognizing, or popularizing, the idea that we can't necessarily take what is helpful for someone else and call that good for us.  We have to honestly evaluate what it is we need, as individuals in our unique circumstances, and make choices that are actually useful for us.  

It's not about primping and manicures (nor does it exclude those things) but keeping your body, mind and soul tuned up and not neglecting your basic human needs: food, water, spirituality, movement, rest, connection, fun, etc.  It's rejecting the productivity-as-my-value and not running yourself into the ground.  It's recognizing your inherent human value and treating yourself accordingly.