This post identifies three of the most common myths that cause people to fail at taking good care of themselves. Overcoming the initial barriers to self-care can be difficult. Nevertheless, once you fully understand what and how important it is, you’ll find it much easier to stick to a self-care routine.
3 Myths
Self-care is selfish.
On the contrary, self-care benefits others. It equips you to be a better parent, friend, spouse, or relative. The more you take care of yourself, the easier you will find it to care for others. Learning self-care, for example, is a crucial life skill that helps children grow up to be happier adults. At length, you’re a model for your children.
Mother used to mutter, “Self-preservation is the law of nature.” While she was not promoting selfishness, she was reminding us to protect our mind, body, and spirit. One of the main reasons people fail to take care of themselves is because they feel it is selfish. It could be that you feel guilty when you take time to focus on you. Or, you may worry what other people think, or that you are a terrible parent for not focusing solely on your children’s needs.
Self-care requires little effort.
There is no getting away from the fact that self-care does take some level of effort in the beginning. Even when you know how significant self-care is to your well-being, incorporating it into your daily routine is challenge. However, there are ways to reduce the effort. If you break down your self-care tasks, it makes them much easier, reducing a lot of the effort involved.
For example, focusing on one thing you want to improve at a time can really help. Perhaps you’d like to start working out more? Scheduling time to exercise as soon as you wake up for example, can be a great start. Or, if you’re looking to drink more water, focus on that goal first.
Self-care approaches are limited.
It is not one-size fits all. Every one of us is different, which means we enjoy and dislike different things. When you initially look at examples of self-care, you’ll find a lot of them relate to things like reading a book or taking a hot bubble bath. These types of activities aren’t for everyone so they might feel self-care really isn’t for them.
Self-care is anything that relaxes and takes care of you. So, if you find going for a run is a more effective way of feeling good, that would be classed as a self-care task.
If you find one self-care approach isn’t working, try something else. Self-care should be personal to your own needs.
Write to Stephanie Harbin @ sdharbin@yahoo.com.
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