very interesting… very interesting… need to ponder this one a bit and here’s why.

“When you care for yourself as a reward for doing the hard work it takes to improve your life, you enjoy it with a guilt-free sense of accomplishment.”

my mother planted this seed early on and it’s dogged me for a handful of decades. “odori… [audrey had to be the worst possible girl’s name for a woman born and raised in japan who never met an *R* she could pronounce with ease… different story] “Do your *work* first THEN you can have *guilt-free* fun later!”.

ugh.

for a person genetically wired for *work* AND *guilt*… *earning* down-time, fun or self-care can be a real buzzkill which makes sense in a way that only therapy’s been able to sort out slowly [why always slowly?!?] over my adult lifetime.

ty for ur piece a.a., your fresh perspective on my okasan’s well-intentioned mantra may help me find a healthier way to enjoy self-care.