🍿Why popcorn + Netflix is “self-care” too

Hi, hope you're doing well. Entering a new season, I’ve been thinking a lot about habits and rituals. And how it’s so easy to judge ourselves for doing something that doesn’t look (or sound) productive. You’re reading The Bright Side, a weekly dose of calm and clarity in a noisy world.

Guilty guilt-free pleasures

Somewhere along the way, self-care got really complicated.

Cold plunges.
$17 green smoothies.
Infrared saunas and sound healing chimes.

If your wellness routine doesn’t require a manual, are you even trying? 😂Sometimes I wonder if our ancestors are looking down at us…hysterically pointing and laughing.

But I bet you’re smarter than all those influencers, aren’t you? The best self-care doesn’t need to be optimized. The best routine is the one you stick to (and breathes life into you.) Sometimes it’s your guilty pleasures, the things you’d never see on a “21 things I do every morning” (21!?) YouTube video.

Scrolling Zillow for houses you’ll never buy.

The same sitcom rerun you’ve seen a hundred times.

Or my dear friend Cassandra’s parmesan truffle salt from Oregon. That, on popcorn + couch + Owen Wilson’s mini-series Stick…so good!

Do they “count”? Of course they do. 

Because if it gets you back to center, what else matters?

Everything’s fine…until that

That look in the kitchen about the stack of dishes.
That passive aggressive comment from a roommate.
That cryptic email from your boss on a Friday that says “free to chat?”

Whew.
Those tiny moments knock us off center..and add up more than we think.

But getting back to center shouldn't take all day or using our life’s savings on a Costa Rican retreat. It can be as simple as doing your ‘thing’: the ritual, the guilty pleasure, the dose of feel-good comfort that presses the reset button.

Because when you feel centered, you show up differently. Calmer. Kinder. More you.

Your one show 📺

Ever spent 30 minutes scrolling through Netflix only to end up…watching The Office for the 47th time?

Yeah, me too.
My partner, it’s Modern Family…

Because we all have that show. The one we grew up with or watched with our kids….

The moment the intro music hits: the Friends guitar riff, Seinfeld’s bass line, Lucille Ball’s laugh track, or the Arrested Development voiceover…you can almost feel a full-body exhale. And because you know how the story ends…you totally relax.

That’s why it feels so good. (And yes, science actually backs this up…here’s some shows to watch this fall.)

But no, you won’t find a two-hour binge on any personal development lists.

Your homework this week ;)

I think we’ve now established the most important word in self-care: self. 

You’re in charge here. And “care” comes in all shapes and sizes.

Like this next bite of bread dipped in olive oil 😉

Enjoy yourself,

P.S. Tonight it’s me, Lucy reruns, and…..