Just like we have core values, there are core themes in our lives. These themes provide us the opportunity for profound realizations.
I am a thinker. The impressions left from sessions with clients and interactions with those I care for stay with me long after we have finished talking. I ponder them as if I am dreaming and making sense of it all.
Over the past few months, a theme I have been thinking on is our strong resistance to self-care. We all have it to some degree. We go to work with a cold, stay up too late, don’t see our friends enough or put off going to the Dr. On a bigger scale, we stay in unhappy relationships, hold on to life crushing jobs, refuse treatment and give up our dreams.
We come up with all kinds of reasons why we can’t/won’t take care of ourselves. We often forget that our choices have impact on others. Sometimes we even use these same people as the reason we won’t take care of ourselves. We say things like, “I have to go to work, my boss will give me a hard time” or “I can’t leave so and so it would destroy them”, or “I am not the problem, they need help.”
We rarely do things unless there is some sort of pay off. The next time you find you are keeping yourself from being the most healthy you can be ask yourself, what am I getting from doing this? Then think about the consequences of your actions. Is it worth the cost?
2 Comments
Hello Jennifer
My thoughts exactly. I am an acupucturist and find so many times that people would much rather spend their money on anything but themselves. There are many consequences to these actions including a slow breakdown in their various physiological functions.
Ian
PS. I came to your article via twitter!
wow. that makes so much sense. i’m in nursing school. and i’m so busy so i dont exercise anymore. I say to myself ” i dont have time, i need to study “. but what good is studying doing me if when i graduate, i’ve gained so much weight that i cant even do my job. that’s a great way to look at things. thanks