Hi. My name is CarmenLeah Ascencio.
And I'm the Director of Programs for Black Girl Dangerous.
Today, we're introducing a new feature called Ask BGD
where BGD fans write in to us or send videos and
ask us questions about things they want our opinions on.
Our first question is from Anthony in Berkeley, California.
Hey BGD. My question for you today is
how do you all practiced self-care and why is self-care so important for people of color?
Yes. This is a question that I have been wanting to talk about for a little while now.
Whenever people talk about self-care
of course the quote that comes to my mind is Audre Lorde's quote
That self-care not self-indulgent, it is
self-preservation,
and that is an act of political warfare.
And it is! It indeed is!
My life changed when I was able to
begin to focus on self-care.
And that was super important.
And I could sit here and list for you all the things I did for self-care but I'm not
actually sure that's what's going to do it
I'm not actually sure that is what is going to create
some little light bulb in your head.
And so what's been coming to me, as vital as self-care is
especially when you aren't valued in society
is that there's another conversation we need to be having in addition to the conversation about self-care
for me certain at a certain point was happened is that
my self-care became a band-aid
for the fact that I actually wasn't happy
and what I was doing didn't make me feel alive
it didn't make me feel joyful
So I need all this self-care
because I was just exhausted because what I was doing
didn't nourish me
I've written a lot about and I talk a lot
about the differences between
things we do to survive and the things we do to get free
When I see us, as oppressed people,
talking a lot about survival and not talking as much
about joy and happiness
I wonder what we're surviving for.
There's this quote that I read recently that said
that the antidote to exhaustion
isn't rest. It's wholeheartedness.
That really touched on
why I want this conversation to be bigger.
The question I'bve been thinking about more is
what makes me come alive? What makes me happy?
which a lot of us have not been trained to ask ourselves
This isn't to say that we don't all have things that we have to do that don't bring us joy.
That take a toll on our minds and our bodies our spirits.
The struggle is real.
Even with oppression, and of course that's gonna come,
and we will need to respond with self-care
we get knocked down
but there's something deeper than that
that I think can lead to a greater sense of freedom
And then the question becomes not only what makes me feel joy,
but how do I be accountable to my joy?
If we, as oppressed people, are going to put energy
into self-care practices that help us get by
then surely we can put energy
into examining how we cultivate joy in our lives.
