It’s enticing to see self-care as part of a grand project of self-improvement, where every relaxing moment of skincare is actually a step towards the final, perfect form we secretly want to achieve. Actual self-care is much more mundane, and involves basically everything your mum used to do for you. So why haven't we taken these tasks over? There’s a theory that we put off doing things that don’t provide us with immediate gratification, and the kind of unsexy self-care we’re talking here is not necessarily going to provide immediate satisfaction. But if you connect the feeling of relief and satisfaction you’ll get from sorting these tasks out with the feeling of sinking into a bubble bath, it becomes much easier to deal with them. Before you know it you can have the best of both worlds – you’ll stop ignoring the mould in your bathroom as you apply your vitamin C serum in the morning, or holding your breath as you hand over your debit card to pay for an açai bowl that you're not sure you can afford.