Selfish Women's Group

Book excerpt: Has it ever felt like a back-handed compliment to be called a "Strong Black Woman"? That statement says more about your weaknesses than your strengths. The stereotypical strong Black woman does it all. She wades through the barrage of racism and misogyny designed to drown her, yet serves as the life vest for everyone else. They need her, but who tends to her needs? Practicing self-care means something different for black women that are faced with the unfairness of having to live in a constant state of duality. Strong Black women take care of what is necessary despite their limited resources, systemic, and how they feel. It is very difficult to uphold what it means to be a strong Black woman in the Black community and make self-care a priority. Which births the difficult question, are Black women that embrace this stereotype able to practice self-care?Selfish Women's Group is a story about strong Black women attempting to heal through self-care during a pandemic and traumatic racial tensions. This story highlights the importance of practicing self-care and how easy it is to lose sight of it. Selfish Women's Group addresses the issues that make it problematic for Black women to practice self-care and provides encouragement to overcome them.Meet the women of Selfish Women's Group: Three black women from Lynn and Malden, Massachusetts meet each other at a local self-care group. Ida, Faith and Michelle build a sisterhood while dealing with their own complex emotional-health issues. Will the support and tools from Selfish Women's Group be enough to provide the balance that they need in their life? Will they learn to be Selfish with self-care?Nobody knows more than Ida how having problems down below can severely impact your quality of life. As if having fibroids aren't enough, Ida must cope with the stress of being a strong black woman. She was taught that showing weakness as a Black woman is intolerable. We all know what gets said about a Black woman that loses her ability to cope. What happens when she just can't take it anymore? Will Ida be strong enough to ask for help or will she suffer in silence due to shame? Do Black women really have bounce-back magic?Faith is a people pleaser. She tries her best to use the tools that she's learned from Selfish Women's Group to help navigate her more challenging relationships. Meanwhile, she finds out at the last minute that her mom is getting released from prison. Will those tools be enough to help her set healthy boundaries from the energy drainers in her life? What's the best way to please people who have betrayed you? Will Faith ever learn to please herself before anyone else?Michelle is a woman who has it all together; a great career, supports her community, is politically astute, and will let you know that she's unapologetically Pro-Black. She is goal-driven with an intense desire to succeed. She's a planner that likes to be in control. Find out what happens when Mother Nature throws Michelle a reproductive curveball. Will she put down her cape? Does having it all together keep Michelle from falling all apart?