Wild, Wild West – Conceptions of Self-Care Beyond The Self

Author: Michelle Lee

Editors: Ajia Shahzad, Sumairaa Ahmed, Anisah Ali

Graphics: Rubbat Ahsan, Sumairaa Ahmed

Click into Instagram and TikTok and like a few videos on self-care and soon your algorithm will be flooded with videos of influencers performing “self-care”, which often consists of long skincare routines, workouts in matching sets, and unplugging from work. Social media seems to be gaining a fascination with self-care in a knee-jerk reaction to its own obsession with hustle culture and increasingly isolating circumstances. But what does it mean to engage in self-care? Selfcare.ca defines it as “a lifelong habit and culture… the practice of individuals looking after their own health based on the knowledge and information available to them” (Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, 2025) that is ultimately based around seven pillars - health literacy, self-awareness, physical activity, healthy eating, risk avoidance, good hygiene, and optimal use of products and services. 

July 24th marks International Self-Care Day, and as the definition of self-care becomes more and more nebulous in an effort to counteract exhaustion and burnout, we might ask ourselves how we got here - and why it’s not a one-size-fits-all definition.

The seven pillars as described by the Self Care website may seem obvious, but upon further reflection one immediately encounters barriers to access. One fifth of Canadians don’t have a family doctor or a nurse practitioner (NP) that they see regularly (CMA, 2023), and this lack of access disproportionately affects black and brown communities. Regular access to family doctors and NPs contributes to risk avoidance and health literacy, and directly constitutes the use of health products and services. At the very least this is undermining three of those seven pillars; beyond this, we see disparities in health outcomes in the form of shortened lifespan, chronic disease, and cardiovascular health (Abdillahi and Shaw, 2020). 

The dominance of interventionist and individualistic approaches in healthcare, combined with corporations using the idea of self-care to promote consumerism, essentially displaces the idea and value of community. The disregard of community stands in the way of delivering culturally sensitive and informed care to those groups. It often conflates individualistic approaches with the right way, or the only way. This ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps’ attitude implies a level of financial security as well as an overt disdain for those that lean on others to heal and be well; hand-in-hand with corporation-fueled campaigns consume your way to a glowing and restful life, we are faced with a collective idea of self-care in the global north that is object-oriented and individualistic to the point of isolation. 

Other cultures, such as First Nations communities in British Columbia (First Nations Health Authority, 2025) take a holistic view of health and view self-care as complex and contextual, focusing on balance, prevention, and collective harmony. Definitions of self-care then run logically into a more collectivist line of thinking, meaning it is nearly impossible to separate and have a balanced relationship with oneself without considering your relationships, your community, and family at the very least. This runs against the prevalent individual-centred view on health, which can feel alienating. 

Self-care looks different for everyone and can be culturally specific; our current individualistic definitions and ideas of self-care do not encompass this variety, nor do they make much space for them in collective thought.

As we celebrate Self-Care Day on the 24th, we must acknowledge the need for more inclusive definitions of self-care and health overall, but also to remember to care for yourself -  and for others. It takes a village. 

Works Cited

Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada. (2025). What is Self-Care? SelfCare.https://selfcare.ca/  

Canadian Medical Association. (2023). Why is it so hard to find a family doctor? Healthcare for real. https://www.cma.ca/healthcare-for-real/why-it-so-hard-find-family-doctor  

I. Abdillahi, A. Shaw. (2020). Social determinants and inequities in health for Black Canadians: A Snapshot. Government of Canada. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/what-determines-health/social-determinants-inequities-black-canadians-snapshot.html 

First Nations Health Authority. (2025). First Nations Perspective on Health and Wellness. https://www.fnha.ca/wellness/wellness-for-first-nations/first-nations-perspective-on-health-and-wellness