Self-Care = Selfish?

Does self-care = selfish?  Are you guilty of thinking if you take care of yourself, you are secretly being selfish?  That somehow you should be able to just continue to forge along with no breaks, no rewards, and no self-love to keep you going?  While it is admirable to think about always putting yourself last for the sake of your family, you eventually must refuel yourself or you will suffer.

Self-care shouldn’t be optional

Women are great at taking care of everyone else’s needs without thinking about it.  Yet, when it comes to taking care of ourselves we neglect to do so.  We take better care of packages we are shipping across the country than we do ourselves sometimes.  If we were a package needing shipped across the country, we would just throw ourselves in a box, do a crappy job of taping it up, get the address wrong we are shipping it to, and so on.

Do you neglect your own self-care by doing any of the following?

• eating food you know is bad for you
• staying up too late
• drinking too much coffee or soda
• indulging in negative thought patterns of “I’m not good enough”
• playing the comparison game on social media
• not exercising
• telling yourself you don’t need anything
• insert your favorite way here _____________

If so, you are treating yourself in a haphazard and neglectful way.  We have all been guilty of this at one point or another, so don’t feel guilty.  Just resolve to be more intentional and take better care of yourself going forward.

Self-Care = Selfish?  No, Self-Care = What You Need to Do

“Take care of your most important resource – YOU” is the tagline for Loveselfcare because we all need to take care of ourselves.  Physically, mentally, and emotionally.  The more stress you have, the more you need to take care of yourself.

Please schedule some time for you today.  You are not being selfish if you take care of your needs too.

If you are looking for inspiration to do so, refer to the article “25 Sure Fire Ways to Recharge Your Batteries“.

If you want permission to take care of your needs, please see the article “Oxygen Mask Theory” or PsychCentral’s article “What Self-Care is and What it Isn’t“.

For the general reasoning behind self-care see – “Why Is Self-Care so Important” or if you are experiencing a really rough time, please read “Extreme Self-Care Days for Rough Times“.

Bottom line, take care of you too.  Because we all need you to be here so that you can keep everything running.  My hat is off to you!

What are your thoughts on this subject?  Do you feel guilty taking care of yourself?  I’d love to hear more in the comments below.

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