Social media makes self care look easy, beautiful, and unattainable. What if we could release the aesthetic of perfection and half-ass our self care instead? In this episode, we explore practical, low-stakes approaches to several evidence-based self care practices: journaling, gratitude, meditation, and creativity. If you’re skeptical of self care, or despair of finding time or energy for self care activities, this conversation is for you!

Find the transcript for Episode 18, “Half-Assed Self Care for Weary Academics” here.

Lots of great ideas referenced in this episode!

• Pooja Lakshmin, Real Self Care / Interview on NPR
• Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Care Work
• Journaling: Pennebaker on expressive writing (content warning: sexual assault referenced); Katherine May, “How to Keep a Writer’s Notebook”
• Gratitude: Bartlett on gratitude
• Meditation: the APA’s overview and bibliography of research on meditation Creativity and process art: (SmartHistory on Process Art); my conversation about creativity with Mariglynn Edlins; Artful Parent is a rich resource for process art, pitched to parents andcaregivers but worthwhile for adults, too
• Petra Kuppers

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