Health & Fitness. Self-Improvement. Nonfiction. HTML:From womenâ??s mental health specialist  and New York Times contributor Pooja Lakshmin, MD, comes a long-overdue reckoning with the contradictions of the wellness industry and a paradigm-shifting program for practicing real self-care that will empower, uplift, and maybe even start a revolution.
You may have noticed that itâ??s nearly impossible to go even a couple days without coming across the term self-care. A word that encompasses any number of lifestyle choices and productsâ??from juice cleanses to yoga workshops to luxury bamboo sheetsâ??self-care has exploded in our collective consciousness as a panacea for practically all of womenâ??s problems. 
Board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Pooja Lakshmin finds this cultural embrace of self-care incomplete at best and manipulative at worst. Fixing your troubles isnâ??t simple as buying a new day planner or signing up for a meditation class. These faux self-care practices keep us looking outwardâ??comparing ourselves with others or striving for a certain type of perfection. Even worse, they exonerate an oppressive social system that has betrayed women and minorities.
Real self-care, in contrast, is an internal, self-reflective process that involves making difficult decisions in line with our values, and when we practice it, we shift our relationships, our workplaces, and even our broken systems.
In Real Self-Care, Lakshmin helps readers understand what a real practice of caring for yourself couldâ??and doesâ??look like. Using case studies from her practice, clinical research, and the down-to-earth style that she's become known for, Lakshmin provides a step-by-step program for real and sustainable change and solace. Packed with actionable strategies to deal with common problems, Real Self-Care is a complete roadmap for women to set boundaries and move past guilt, treat themselves with compassion, get closer to themselves, and assert their power. The resultâ??having ownership over oneâ??s own lifeâ?? is nothing less than a personal and social revolution.
* This audiobook includes a donwloadable PDF with The Real Self-Care Compass and Resources