Super Self-Care is a compassionate self-help memoir that explores the importance of making our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being a priority in our lives. It examines how doing so leads to personal fulfilment and meaningful relationships, especially for people struggling with addiction, toxic relationships or harmful behavioural traits.

Dines goes far beyond mainstream ideals that typify the practice of self-care, a widely popularised concept that has been gaining a lot more attention in recent years. More than just a surface-level discussion about things like; meditation, therapy, perfecting one’s mountain pose, or lighting scented candles, Dines probes deeper and approaches the conversation on what he defines as Super Self-Care through a broader and more multifaceted lens.

Super Self-Care is both synonymous with working towards recovery from addiction and with addressing career and creative stagnation. It is the act of confronting our subconscious fears and building healthy relationships. It is the act of practising self-compassion and of harnessing the power of visualisation. This book has many dimensions to it and considers a comprehensive range of powerful themes. 

Dines writes from a place of profound vulnerability as he draws from his own past experiences with addiction, compulsive behaviours and recovery, to help people overcome the difficult trials they might be facing in life.

“All areas of my life improved when I became authentically visible. My challenge today is to sustain my authentic visibility, one day at a time.”  

His writing both extends and evokes empathy not only in how deeply honest he gets in the personal unveiling of himself, but also in how he uses the collective voice in places, to demonstrate his understanding of the types of fears and insecurities people who this book is primarily aimed at will have in certain situations. 

“To observe our thoughts and feelings requires willingness and gentleness.”  

In this way, Dines shares his extensive knowledge of mindfulness, group therapy i.e. Twelve Steps of Recovery programs, and spiritual practice to provide readers with a pool of effective techniques to aid in their personal growth.

Because of this book's sweeping range, I thought there was more scope for deeper development and for the many brilliant points it raises to be further expanded upon. However, I did appreciate the intentional structure of the writing; it has relevant subheadings throughout, that tie in nicely with the main subject of each chapter and help to break down the text into easily readable sections. Add to this the fact that Super Self-Care is a comfortably short body of work, 158 pages on Kindle to be exact, and it makes for a smooth reading experience!