💝 Self-care for stepparents
Please drop everything else like a hot potato and put your own oxygen mask on first.
Much like stepparenting itself, self-care doesn’t always look they way we think it will. Or should.
Starting with our (false) belief that we shouldn’t need to take a break from our stepkids or our partners — we’re committed, so we should be able to power through. Right??
As if we should be able to reason our way out of feeling like shit. Taking a step back rather than pushing through would be an irresponsible, self-indulgent choice, right? I mean we have responsibilities for Pete’s sake. We should get over ourselves already and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
FYI, that phrase — pulling yourself up by your bootstraps — used to mean physically impossible. It's only with time and linguistic changes that it's come to epitomize stubborn self-reliance. That's right, folks: we took a phrase that meant literally impossible to accomplish and turned it into a guilt trip.
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