Today’s question: Has getting into mori girl changed your perspective on life or how you live at all? how so?

Yes, I think it has, even in the short course of this Mori challenge. This challenge has made me realize how much I supress my need for self care and deny myself small pleasures in some misguided quest to morally perfect myself. Often self care becomes just a checklist I run through to stave off illness. It comes from the way I was raised, I’m sure, this self-denying perfectionism. I’ve healed from and grown past a lot of unhealthy beliefs I was raised with, but so far this is the most stubborn and sneaky. I think it’s because my natural tendency is to work hard and push my way through things, and the best way to heal perfectionism and self-denial is the opposite of that, unclenching my fists and working less.

These past few weeks of exploring my Mori side have been about slowly unclenching my fists. It’s helped me tap into my softer, more dreamy side and made me realize I need to give that side a lot more room if I want self care to actually nourish me instead of just keeping the demons at bay.

On a smaller scale, Dark Mori is a bridge between my spooky stompy goth side and the side that loves sustainability and small town charm. People get confused trying to figure out which side is “the real me” but both are, and finding a name for that combination makes me feel like somebody out there understands.