Modern media makes self-love seem simple. Buy a bath bomb, apply a face mask, and voila! You've got self-love, commodified and canned for your convenience. But self-love cannot be bought. There is no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to self-care. What happens once our bubble baths drain and feelings of self-loathing, doubt, or despair creep back in? How do our bodies, resource availability (including free time), and physical and emotional needs impact our ability to care for ourselves? Are our bodies 'bad' just because certain industries, organizations, or people deem them so? Are we 'bad' people if we experience negativity, or struggle with self-love and self-care? Social media sensation Marisa McGrady, also known as @ris.writes or the Fairy Godmother online, explores these questions and more in her debut self-help book, The Fairy Godmother's Growth Guide: Whimsical Poems and Radical Prose for Self-Exploration. The bite-sized poems in Part I propose new perspectives about our bodies and inspire us to see and interact with them in different lights. The prose in Part II advocates for accommodating and sustainable self-care and self-love through the lens of McGrady's neurodiverse, plus-sized, and queer lived experience, while simultaneously addressing the industrialization and commodification of self-love and self-care, reviewing how external factors such as socioeconomic disparity impact self-worth, and discussing the origins of the body positivity movement. The Fairy Godmother's Growth Guide will redefine your relationship with self-love and inspire you to make your life magical by creating self-care routines designed for and by you.
