Does Self Care Make You Feel Selfish?

When describing most people’s lives, busy is an understatement. It’s hard for you to find the time to give to yourself and your needs. When you steal away for a minute or two, it bothers you because you’re thinking about other things.

That’s a common occurrence. You might be one of millions of people who experiences feelings of guilt whenever you want to do something for yourself. The reason that people feel this way is because they think it’s selfish to take some “me time” when there are so many other things they could be doing for someone else.

It’s not selfish to take some time to recharge your batteries. You need to unplug from being plugged in to everyone else’s needs. Otherwise, you drain your own batteries and then you have nothing left to give anyone - including yourself.

It’s not wrong to put yourself at the top of your to-do list. By taking care of your own needs first, you protect yourself financially, mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Practice self care by understanding where you’re at with your health goals and see what you’ve been neglecting in that area. You might find a mental or physical issue you’ve been ignoring that could be addressed and give you a new lease on life.

Because you have so much going on, you push your own health needs aside, telling yourself you’ll get to it someday. But the most ideal time to take care of yourself is now. Take a few minutes and take stock of what’s going on with your body and then make time to deal with whatever it is.

You should also look at the things that you like to do that you haven’t been able to do because you haven’t been practicing self care. These might be things like going to the movies with friends, taking a class you’ve been wanting to take, reading a book, taking a trip or simply sitting at home working on a creative project.

Taking the time to do the things that feed the emotional side or creative side of you is a great way to add self care. Just like you list events or appointments on your calendar for family or friends’ needs, you should add yours as well.

Block out time to do the stuff that makes you smile or makes you feel fulfilled. You don’t have to spend a lot of money - or even any at all - just find what you enjoy doing and make time for it.

No distractions, no thinking about meeting someone else’s needs. Tune in to yourself instead. Part of self care is found in protecting your time. This means you’re going to have to set boundaries. Don’t be afraid to say no to others so there’s time for yourself.

Everyone’s Idea of Self Care Is Unique

You might have heard about the idea of practicing self care. In case you haven’t, it simply means doing things to nurture or take care of yourself. In light of how busy everyone is these days, the last person who gets soothed or helped is usually you.

You’re so busy providing for other people that you don’t often think about how it’s best to take care of you. Even though you might not be thinking about it, your body probably is wishing you would.

If you find yourself battling insomnia, experiencing pressure at work, suffering stress from your relationships, and handling long days of obligations, then you feel that in your body.

You might have shoulders that ache or feel strained. Maybe you’ve been having headaches lately or you just feel tired all the time and can hardly wait to fall into bed. Your zest is gone and you long for time for you to unwind, but you don’t ever do anything about it.

That could be because you imagine that in order to revitalize yourself, you don’t have enough time, money or energy to see it through. Self care doesn’t have to be something that’s complicated.

It can be sweet and easy. All you have to do is think about what appeals to you - what you love, what gives you the feeling of having your batteries recharged. What you come up with isn’t going to necessarily be what other people have in mind for their own self care.

Every person will have a unique idea of what self care means to them. Some people might picture self care as having an hour where they can go for a run or hit the gym for an uninterrupted workout.

They might picture it as going for a walk in the neighborhood with the family pet or spending time at the dog park. For others, self care might be taking a luxuriously hot bath where they light candles and put on some relaxing music.

They might imagine themselves submerged in bubbles, head back against a neck pillow, glass of wine in hand with an audiobook or music playing softly in the background.

You might be someone who thinks of self care in terms of intangible things. Your idea of self care might be to have time with your family. You might imagine spending a night playing a family game with the kids, going out with your significant other, or visiting your parents, siblings or grandparents.

You might see self care for you as wanting that emotional connection. Self care can be something like desiring more sleep, so it could be taking a nap or sleeping in on the weekend. Other people want self care in the form of laughter.

You can do whatever you want. There’s no right or wrong way and there’s no right or wrong amount of time, either. It could be something you do for just a couple of minutes or something you do for an hour. Maybe you want to take the day. Whatever it is, just practice self care in a way that nourishes you.

Self Care Doesn't Mean Shelling Out a Lot of Money

If you’re not careful, self care can stress you out, risk your financial plan, and get in the way of your goals. Wanting to practice some self care isn’t a bad thing - especially if it means taking care of your health.

But if you’re spending a lot of money, especially when money is tight or you have something else you could be spending that money on, then it can be a bad thing. There are easy and inexpensive ways for you to take care of yourself without risking any of your goals - including your budget’s well-being.

Many people fall into the trap of holding tight to the belief that self care equals spending money. That’s not always the case. You don’t have to spend a lot to get relief from stress.

One area that people like to practice self care in that can cost a lot of money is spa and pampering solutions. Things like getting your nails and hair done, getting a facial or a massage.

This can add up and if you don’t have the budget for it, it quickly becomes less of a self care routine and more of a burden. If nail care is important for you to feel better, you can take the do it yourself route at home.

Taking care of your health is a no-brainer. You want to make sure you watch out for that. But some habits of yours that you see as self care can actually cause more stress. For example if you want to get fit, so you’re paying a high monthly fee to a gym that you don’t like (or use), it can stressful and cause a lot of guilt.

It’s just as effective to do your workouts at home. You don’t even have to buy exercise DVDs. You can watch many of them free online. Plus, you’ll get a lot of variety this way.
Feeling down and buying yourself a new pair of shoes isn’t self care because you’re not taking care of what’s really bothering you.

Self care when your emotions are out of whack doesn’t mean you need a shopping trip. You’re better off going for a walk in the park or talking to a friend about what’s bothering you - both of which are a form of self care, but without cost.

Money is one of the top issues that result in stress for men and women alike. If you opt to practice self care in less expensive ways, you’ll still be able to nurture yourself and your bank account at the same time.

Did you find this post fun, informative and useful? If so, please share it with others!

If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

Cheers, Helene Malmsio


Related Reading: https://www.discoveryhub.net/how-to-manage-stress.html

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