Even when you know how important self-care is to your wellbeing, it isn’t always easy to incorporate it into your daily routine. Did you know many people fail when it comes to taking care of themselves?
Here, we’ll look at why people generally fail regarding self-care and the main things holding them back.
It is often perceived as selfish.
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 yourself. Or, you may worry what other people think or that you are a terrible parent for not focusing solely on your children’s needs.
It is a total myth that self-care is selfish. It can help you to be a better parent, friend, spouse, and relative. The more you take care of yourself, the easier you’ll find it to take care of others. You’ll also show your children the importance of self-care. Teaching them to take care of their own needs is a crucial life skill to help them become happier adults.
It requires effort
There is no getting away from the fact that self-care takes some level of effort initially. When you aren’t used to making self-care a priority, you’re going to need to make quite a few changes to your routine.
Coming up with a self-care plan can feel like a chore, making it easy to put it off. However, there are ways to reduce the effort. For example, focusing on one thing you want to improve at a time can 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.
If you break down your self-care tasks, it makes them much more accessible, reducing a lot of the effort involved.
Different approaches work for other people.
Every one of us is different, which means we enjoy and dislike other 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 isn’t for them.
Self-care isn’t just bubble baths, yoga, and meditation; it 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.
These are the most common reasons people fail to take good care of themselves. It can be difficult overcoming the initial barriers to self-care. However, once you fully understand what and how important it is, you’ll find it much easier to stick to a self-care routine.