do you know what self-care is?
If so, please enlighten me!
Is self-care the croissant and coffee I got on the way to work? Or a pricey French face serum? Is this self-care or just indulgence?
“Do you have any self-care planned?” asked my best friend Megha after I explained to her a particularly stressful weekend I had experienced. And that’s when I realized I completely forgot to make a reservation for self-care. I’ve booked every brunch, dinner, and drinks on my calendar, but, self-care? Is that on Yelp?
As I am told, self-care is this:
“There's no set of activities necessarily, just what feels right and what will help me in the moment to recover from whatever it is I'm recovering from.”
So it seems the first step is the figure out what you’re recovering from. It’s not as if I’m recovering from a house that’s been burnt down, but more like there’s dust that has been collecting in the corners of the rooms in my house and the faucet is a bit leaky and keep on forgetting to take out the trash because I haven’t been spending much time at home. I haven’t been spending much time admiring the way that the morning light comes in through the windows and hits the walls at just the right angle creating a fantastic play of light and shadow, and if I look out that same window I see a beautiful view of the city. My house isn’t on fire, but I’ve been neglecting to respect the livelihood it provides.
This brings me to music in French.
My first foray into French music being Serge Gainsbourg and Edith Piaf in high school. Guess I haven’t changed too much from when I was younger, because the aesthetic of French culture still continues to intrigue me. While culture is complex and constantly evolving, and I don’t mean to reduce it to a few adjectives, what my impression of a culture is, is entirely personal. For me, modern French music stirs up ideas of leisurely intellectualism, romantic je ne sais quoi, defiant attitudes, carefree dispositions, and passionate anythings.
If what I’m recovering from is a neglect of understanding the aspects that have shaped the perspectives I take, call it personality or something else, then the antidote must be to reflect.
This brings me to the music.
The goal isn’t to hold on to old pieces and play the same album you loved in 2009 on repeat, though that’s fine some days. Instead, the exercise is to remember the historical pieces and parts and ask yourself how it’s evolved into this version of you in 2019.
Canopée by Polo & Pan
Fantastical lyrics and hella catchy beat.
Les voiles by Poom
This is about sailing the ocean and dancing, so obviously I’m into it.
Nuits sans sommeil by Clea Vincent
Idéal.
Happy listening,
Angela
All previous weeks’ songs in this playlist: