5 Ways to Self-care in the Summer
From thick books to thicc thighs
Sad Trombone is the first in a monthly series for paid subscribers. Every month it will cover offbeat arts and culture.
With the daily onslaught of the current news cycle and the crush of rising summer temperatures, now is as a good time as any to hibernate indoors and focus on maintaining physical, mental and emotional well-being. Resting not only reclaims your humanity, it can also be seen a form of resistance. According to Tricia Hersey, the Nap Bishop of the Nap Ministry, “rest is anything that connects your mind and body,” and she reframes Rest not as a luxury, but as a vital act of rebellion.
With that in mind, I’m dying to share a list of “beyond the nap” activities that I’m loving, and currently attempting, that may also help you to self-care your way through another cruel summer.
1. Read a thick book. All year I’ve been staying clear of big books. Anything over 300 pages… no thank you! But now I’m all in for an epic summer read. The New Yorker recently published a list of Mega-Reads worth the plunge, and some of the usual suspects were in there, including Moby-Dick and The Tale of the Genji. I don’t know if I can go that big, but here are some of my recommendations to ease yourself into a thick read: The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton, and My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand.
2. Start a Series. With more than 300 streaming services, you are bound to have missed a good series to sink your teeth into. I recently started Season 1 of The Gilded Age, streaming on HBOMax, and have fallen in love with it. This American historical drama was created by Julian Fellowes, who was also behind Downton Abbey. He has now created this series based on American history in the early 1900s, a period of rapid industrialization, economic growth and conflicts within the social strata of “new money” versus “old money.” The costumes and sets are eye-candy and the storylines mix fictitious characters with real-life families of that time.
If period pieces aren’t your thing, I’d also recommend Andor, streaming on Disney Plus. This series stars Diego Luna as a reluctant hero of a revolution and takes place in the universe created by the Star Wars franchise. And although this series is science fiction, the storyline feels contemporary and brave. I was pleasantly surprised by Andor.
