An update from Pooja
What to expect from Real Self-Care in 2025
Welcome to the hundreds of new subscribers who found me through Jessica DeFino's advice column, Ask Ugly, in The Guardian! I'm Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, psychiatrist and author of the best-selling book, Real Self-Care (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble-Baths Not Included). As you’ll read below, on Saturday February 1st I will be paywalling the Real Self-Care archives. Lock in your paid subscription now for $5/month, or $50/year. Thanks for being here!
Hi folks!
We’re already almost an entire month into 2025, which is hard to believe — but also feels right because so much has happened already, phew.
A couple of weeks ago, I shared the Real Self-Care Year in Review, looking back at what you most loved here in 2024 as well as some of my professional milestones. Today’s letter is a personal note from me, covering what you can expect from this newsletter for 2025, and giving you some insider info as to how I’m thinking about my future as an author, and how I plan to structure my work life.
First and foremost, I love writing this newsletter. I started off 2024 thinking of this newsletter as an experiment — Did I like writing to you every week? Was it worth the effort? The resounding answer is, YES.
Now, my experiment for 2025 is to see how it feels to build a more robust paid offering for you. I’m giving myself the year to see if it’s possible to make this newsletter a financially stable part of my work (and, to see if I still love writing it as much if that becomes the case). Right now, I have 163 paid subscribers, and I’d like to see that number hit 300 by the end of the 2025. I’d also like to increase my monthly views here so that, perhaps, in the future I can explore sponsorship opportunities (big TBD, but, I’d love the option when the brand or product feels like the right fit).
I’m also noticing that I’m itching for a space to explore topics I’m drawn to that don’t fit perfectly under the prescriptive Real Self-Care umbrella. These are topics that don’t lend themselves to one letter, but instead, to a series format with a research component. I’m thinking of topics that pertain to living in uncertain and chaotic times — like, how to stay human in an AI world, or navigating mid-life when the world is on fire, and, maybe even, cults (eg. what brings us to them, why we are fascinated by them, and what it’s like to join and leave one, since I have some personal experience there). In my head, I’ve been calling this project “A Closer Look.” It’s basically a container for me to augment my own learning and I’d love to bring that learning to you, too.
This brings me to my other big project for 2025. I’m currently working on the proposal for my second book. Book two is going to be about navigating change and transition. When I wrote Real Self-Care, I was basically writing the book I needed to read. Unsurprisingly, I’ll be doing the same my second time around. My second book will contain everything I want you to know about how navigate change. There’s a reliable pattern that I see with my patients (and, that I’ve noticed in myself) when one is able to thrive through change, as opposed to merely surviving life’s transitions. I anticipate that as I’m researching, brainstorming, and writing this next book, much of what I am learning will come through here in the newsletter too.
A little more BTS on how this all comes together: I work with patients as a psychiatrist two days a week, do about 20 public speaking gigs a year, and write 4-6 newsletters a month (which each take hours before they’re ready to send off, especially the more technical ones). Plus, being a mom to my toddler, K, and my relationship with my partner Justin, and my family & friends. And working on the next book. It’s…umm…a lot.
So, it’s important for you to know that I am not doing this alone. Last Fall I hired
as a freelance editor to help me with the newsletter. Jillian is a writer and editor who’s been writing her own newsletter, , for five years. Every week Jillian and I get together to talk about Real Self-Care’s content calendar, direction, and growth (it was Jillian who introduced me to the content calendar! All this time I’d been just winging it when it came to my content on social media, lol). Behind the scenes, Jillian helps me work out ideas, draft posts, edit my thoughts, and format everything so it comes to you in a timely fashion. I’ll share a more in-depth post introducing her and her work soon.You’ll also soon meet Madysen Luebke, my new research assistant. I hired Madysen last Fall once I knew the topic for my next book. This is my first time working with a research assistant (when I wrote Real Self-Care, I hired a freelance editor but not a research assistant). Madysen will be helping me produce the new topical series’ for paid subscribers that I mentioned above. Also integral to bringing me to your inbox is
who has helped me with all things design and marketing since circa 2021, as well as my assistant Catherine. All of these part-time, freelance team members enable me to bring RSC out into the world.I am sharing all of this in the weeds stuff with you because I know many of you are also navigating non-traditional career paths and exploring ways to make your life and work feel more whole. I’m no expert at running a business, but, I’m learning as I go how to be an author as, like, a real job. And, how to create a nontraditional (at least very different from the traditional path of a psychiatrist) financial reality for myself and my family. In the past, I burned myself out trying to make everything happen myself (longtime readers might remember my hospital stay in 2023, yikes), but I’m not doing things that way in 2025.
When you become a paid subscriber, you are not only supporting work that I love to do but also helping me build real self-care into something that is bigger than just me. I want what we are building here to be a resource that will continue to help hundreds of thousands of folks, and help grow the careers of other creatives and helping professionals.
Current paid subscribers and those who sign up before Feb. 1 get to keep the current rate of $5/month, or $50/year, permanently. On Feb. 1, I’m raising the paid subscription price to $7/month, or $70/year — so lock in your lower rate now.
I so appreciate each and every one of you, and I’ve got more RSC exclusives planned for paid subscribers only this year to show my appreciation.
In 2025, paid subscribers will get:
Access to all RSC posts. As of Feb 1, posts older than two weeks will all be paywalled. Free subscribers will always continue to get a weekly real self-care post from me, usually coming on Wednesday mornings.
Biweekly-ish paid subscriber-only posts. So far, these posts have explored three questions to ask before you buy that wellness product, how to survive family gatherings, and how to be there for someone. These posts are usually where I share my more personal thoughts and experiences with you — things that I’m trying out and that aren’t ready for prime time.
My new topic-based series: “A Closer Look”. Our first series will drop in mid-February and will be exploring midlife — a topic I’m hearing about more and more from my patients, as well as in popular culture.
Weekly Quick Thoughts. Since the election, I’ve been sharing my Quick Thoughts on Instagram, and people seem to love them. So I’m bringing them over to RSC in a new weekly post that will hit your inbox every Friday. I love sharing more of my unfiltered thoughts for the week and connecting with all of you on a more personal level, so I’m excited to bring that series here. For now these will be free but I may paywall some in the future, TBD.
Tips, thoughts, and advice on how to actually implement self-care into your life from a psychiatrist who gets it. As my book promises, I will never peddle crystals, cleanses, or other crap that costs you money and won’t actually change a damn thing in your life (other than a quick hit of quickly passing relief, at the most). I will talk with you about the care that will actually get you to that sustainable place you’re craving, including boundaries — and I’ll be honest about the ups and downs I experience during these challenging times as I try to get there, too.
Thank you for sticking with me as I grow. I hope to give you even more to chew on here at Real Self-Care in 2025.
xo,
Pooja
Top hits from Real Self-Care
You are reading Real Self-Care, the weekly email newsletter written by psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. Pooja Lakshmin MD.
📚 Order my book, Real Self-Care, as an e-book, hardcover, or audiobook.
💬 Hire me for a real self-care keynote by sending a message on my website.
📲 For how I found my own self-worth, check out On Confidence from the archives.
As an older woman, I have seen ideas and concepts in your writing (I own your first book) that I wished you would pursue. There were times I thought your writing was just for the young mothers and wished for that advice when my two sons were growing up. I am looking forward to the broadening of your work. Thank you, also, for setting a permanent fee for original subscriptions.
I love all of this and thank you for your transparency about how you’re doing it. It’s making me think I need to do some of the same things as well. I pretty much unsubscribed from all my paid subscriptions as I’m working on my book and not reading much on substack but I just signed up for the yearly paid w you with you because I want to support what you’re doing. Your work is so important and I’m a super fan 💜