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Self-Care Tip #129 – Self-care begins and ends with “Me” – own it. Be a friend to yourself.
Yesterday we talked about connecting self-care with pleasure to make it sticky.
Today, We’ll talk more about some of the adjustment issues of why we don’t do self-care on the obvious, such as nurture vs. nature. We’ll talk about the nurture part. Specifically, our own not what our parents did to us.
Why don’t we stand up to our personal needs? We don’t. We don’t own the friendly changes that we would benefit from.
Carol who used to abuse methamphetamines and alcohol many years ago, now tells me that smoking is her only vice and she needs to have at least one. She says she doesn’t want to stop even though her feet and hands are blue from not getting enough oxygen.
Another part of the answer is that we are so overwhelmed by the wrong we see around us. We qualify and quantify it away, desensitized to our own needs.
“Have you seen that dietitian?! How can she possibly give advice on weight loss when she can’t see her feet?” And we ignore our own central fat, knowing that it has meaning. Meaning like, we have unseen fat layering onto our central organs. Meaning, we are more likely to develop metabolic illnesses such as diabetes.
We don’t own it. We don’t “Just do it.” We talk about other people and draw lines between their mistakes making pictures that we can hide our own problems behind. We can make sense of why they are suffering so. Yet our own problems are some sort of enigma. Yet to be determined by science! Open-mouthed, hands splayed in a why stance, we can’t connect our own dots.
All health begins and ends with “Me.” Including mental health.
Find yourself again. Amidst all the world’s needs, you still are important. Peel off Channel 4 News, the internet, the fears about what is outside your front door, and see yourself there under it all. Needing self-care.
Question: How do you keep view of yourself despite the distractors? Please tell me your story.
looking after number one let number one look after itslef yer it is hard to look after your self especialy when you are with a partner but you have to remember you have need to and these need looking after just as mutch im bymyself and now i begin to understand that i have to look after myself because no one else will
Hey Kevin. along the way i’ve been confused by it too! part of my inspiration comes also from my own journey in self-care, much like you described so well kevin. thanks for commenting!
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*gazes regretfully and with self-disgust at blue feet*
sweet Cindy. u r not alone. keep on marvelous woman!
The philosophy of Americans today seem to be putting out the least amount of effort while expecting maximum benefits. Why would anyone want to feel good about themself by working hard when all they have to do is turn on the television and pass judgement on characters on reality TV shows… The people on reality shows make us feel superior because we can call them any name in the book and be right. Being a better person doesn’t get you a pat on the back, so we have to find it in ourselves to do what’s right, rather than looking for unfortunate souls to compare ourselves to.
“Being a better person doesn’t get you a pat on the back, so we have to find it in ourselves” — um, WOW! Jasmine you rocked my day w that. thanks!
i try my best to remind myself that i am not Empress because of their impressions, nor do i Empress for their impressions.
i even used that for a while in my twitter bio.
whether or not i succeed, what counts is that i try my best to care for myself and not allow another to derail my efforts
nice cindy! i luv that. trying my best to care for myself. thank u so much for reading and commenting! i’m going to ck u out on twitter…. 🙂 keep on!
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