Ooh... A Classmate Of Mine Brought Up The Concept Of Self-care, & My Professor Nodded And Was Like I

ooh... a classmate of mine brought up the concept of self-care, & my professor nodded and was like ‘i just call that self-preservation’ & oooh... i like that so much better... self-care, i think, has been so diminished as a term and concept that all it does is make one think of like, lounging around in expensive sheetmasks and eating ice cream. but self-preservation is a basic instinct & it sounds like action! like being kind to yourself & trying your best to keep from getting into taxing and harmful situations! like looking out for your body and mind & keeping yourself safe and healthy and happy and alive. self-preservation sounds like survival. i think i’m going 2 work at that from now on

“—[desperately] don’t you see? I took mercy on myself. Nobody else would. So I saved myself from grief, I did what was needed. I took mercy on me. I took mercy on me.”

— Amrita C., from “Dhumavati,” Incarnate 

our embrace lasted too long. we loved right down to the bone.

- anna swir

A Bangladeshi girl hangs on to the side of a train, taken by Tab Tuhin in 2008

smithpoint beach, fire island