A Year of Rest, Reflection, and Radical Self-Care
By: Nyamebofour Otoo
I am a polymath, a writer, a thinker and a lover. I believe in the power of stories, pain and renewed identities. I am also a retired mental health advocate. I am the founder of a nonprofit organization called the Graye Space which aims at bringing awareness to severe mental illnesses. This specifically includes all the personality disorders that push a person to toxicity, the types of psychosis that make one dance with madness and all the paraphilias that I cannot mention. I have currently taken a year off to lounge on sofas and sip juice by the beach. I am committed to taking mini retirements and round trips to different worlds, places- dimensions. This is how I take care of myself. This is how I preserve my waning sanity. This is how I fight for the liberation of differently abled people. I lead by example so that others know that there is no timeline that is worth your health. My work with the Graye Space was neither extensive nor all encompassing. It met no success-driven metrics. It was small and fleeting and yet it has been one of the things that has brought me the most joy and pride. Through this organization, I was able to host a webinar and create a short YouTube series. It was unapologetically raw and human. It also brought me closer to myself - so naturally I had to step away.
This partly resulted in what I term as my year of rest and relaxation. This year is dedicated to self care (the radical kind) and inner peace. I paint and write most days. I go to the gym. I eat healthy food. I see a therapist every week. I meditate every morning. I solve math problems. I talk to myself and laugh at jokes only I can understand. I spend hot days lost in a world of dissociative frenzy. I am calmer, less anxious and generally happier. I am scared that I am behind in life because quite frankly I am. I think about my mistakes, the trauma I have endured and all the friendships I have broken. I think about peace, philosophy and politics. I flirt with distant goals that I am trying not to forget. Some days, I do absolutely nothing. Most days, I live in silence. I am learning about the power of boredom and self acceptance in this silence.
I take care of myself by simply allowing myself to be. I love myself by reveling in my idiosyncrasies. I build myself up by chasing discipline. I advocate for myself by advocating for others. I breathe, I love and most importantly I live.
How do you practice radical self-care in your own life? What's one lesson you've learned from embracing rest and reflection?