Some of you may remember the funny meme circulating last winter of a winter scene featuring a baleful eagle. In case you can’t remember, or didn’t see it the first go around, here you go:
The meme struck a chord with me. I have never been someone who goes for leisurely walks. I do enjoy a good brisk walk, or a lovely stomp, especially when I am trying to work out a problem for a client.
The pandemic has brought home for me the need to maintain regular physical activity, so when I came across this reel on Instagram with a reference to angry self care, I was intrigued. The video shows a person who presents as young, able, and white making her way determinedly and spiritedly down a snowy street.
There’s something appealing about angry self care, the same way rage baking took off as a way to ease and redirect rage and anxiety in the last Republican presidency. We often see anger as a negative emotion when it can actually be a spur to useful and productive activity that takes us outside our headspace and repeating interior monologues.
Going for a walk, drinking your water, getting your sleep, meeting your swimming goals to name a few examples are all great ways to look after yourself and aren’t really stupid at all. However, as this pandemic stretches on, even the most positive and optimistic among us have days when we don’t feel like doing all the healthy things. That’s when stupid walks can help.
These days I can get down with some motivational resentment. If it gets me out the door, why not? Come join me. Get your footwear, get your coat, and yank that hoodie on your head. Or put on an especially stompworthy tune — like London Calling by the Clash or Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life — and stomp your fine self around your space.
MarthaFitat55 really enjoys good stomp for her mental health. She hopes you will too.
This is a great post. Love the eagle meme!
I know it as boring self care. There is actually a page on Instagram called boring self care