Self-Care
Looking after your own survival and wellbeing — a health and public-health term that entered popular use as a Black feminist political claim and left it as a retail category.
Full definition of Self-Care →:: COMPARE ::
Self-carevsSelf-indulgence
The short answer
Lorde's sentence exists to separate them, and puts the distinction in its first clause. Self-indulgence is the end. Self-preservation is a means to continuing the work. The wellness industry kept the vocabulary and inverted the direction.
Side by side
| Aspect | Self-care | Self-indulgence |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To continue | Itself |
| Orientation | Collective | Private |
| Lorde's word for it | Warfare | What she denied |
| Sellable | Not originally | Highly |
What each one means
Self-indulgence
The contrast above sets out how Self-indulgence differs from Self-Care on the points that actually matter.