Why do we fail so badly at practicing self-care

Did you notice how we easily fail at practicing self-care even though we know how important it is? Let's face it, practicing self-care isn’t always easy to incorporate into our daily routine.

Here, we’ll look at why we generally fail when it comes to practicing self care and the main things holding us back.

It is often perceived as selfish

One of the main reasons we fail to take care of ourselves is because we feel it is selfish. Most of the time you feel guilty when you take time to focus on yourself. Sometimes, you may worry about 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. In fact, 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. And by taking care of yourself, 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 that’s going to help them to grow up to be happier adults.

It requires effort

You must admit that the fact is that self-care does take some level of effort in the beginning. Why? Because if you aren’t used to making self-care a priority, you’re going to need to make quite a few changes in your routines to make it a habit.

Honestly, trying to come up with a self-care plan can most of the time feels like a chore, which makes it easy to put it off. However, there are ways to reduce that effort. 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? Try to schedule a time to exercise as soon as you wake up, that can be a great start to your day. Maybe you’re looking to drink more water, then focus on that goal first.

If you break down your self-care tasks into several smaller ones, it makes your life much easier, and it is reducing a lot of the effort involved.

Different approaches work for different people

Every person in this world is different, which means that we enjoy and dislike different things. When you first take a look at examples of practicing self-care, you’ll find a lot of them relate to things like reading a book or taking a hot bubble bath. But, not everyone enjoys these types of activities so they might feel self-care really 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, why not 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.

How do you practice self-care? Do you find it easy to incorporate it into your daily routines? Do you have some tips and tricks on how to smoothly create self-care habits?

Little self-promotion: this article was originally published on my blog: Why do we fail so badly at practicing self care