In May of 1988, Ithaca-based lesbian and feminist indie press Firebrand Books published Audre Lorde’s essay collection A Burst of Light, in which Lorde reflects, among other things, on how a life spent fighting racism, sexism, and homophobia prepared her for her battle with cancer. In the title essay, she writes:
I had to examine, in my dreams as well as in my immune-function tests, the devastating effects of overextension. Overextending myself is not stretching myself. I had to accept how difficult it is to monitor the difference. Necessary for me as cutting down on sugar. Crucial. Physically. Psychically. Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.
If you recognize the last part of that quote, it’s because it has become ubiquitous—especially on social media—in recent years. “Why, a quarter century after her death, has a radical queer theorist become a go-to lifestyle guru?” asked André Spicer in The Guardian in 2019.
Maybe others are finally starting to recognize the power of some of Lorde’s ideas. Perhaps it is because the widespread existence of anxiety disorders means that many of us share some of Lorde’s experience of facing up to fear and trying to survive in a world that seems so hostile. It could be that continued political shocks mean even relatively privileged people have started to feel that the world is against them and the best they can hope for is to endure.
But regardless of the reason, there are downsides to the popularization of Lorde's words. “This once radical idea is being stripped of its politics to make it more palatable to a mass market," Spicer added. "As this happens, the central insights associated with self-care may well get lost. This could mean self-care becomes just another brand of self-help.”
Or as Kathleen Newman-Bremang put it in Refinery29: “Self-care cannot be an ‘act of political warfare’ if the only battle you’re waging is against your frown lines with $110 moisturizer.”
“It isn’t about not working hard or ignoring our solo ambitions, mental health or self-worth,” Newman-Bremang continued.
It’s about making sure we aren’t measuring that worth by our weariness. In Lorde’s case, she was literally dying of cancer when she wrote these words. It’s not unreasonable to assume that her overextension contributed to her waning health and therefore, her demise. We must use Lorde’s life as a cautionary tale. What does it say about America that one of its most visionary and brilliant Black minds deteriorated while she was fighting against the conditions that work us to death? And how can we create better conditions in our communities so that history isn’t repeated?
It’s a question we continue to grapple with, 35 years after Lorde’s essay was published.