How Your Self-Care Practice Is Hurting You.
You Should Be Feeling Good Right Now
You get up early, meditate, and work out. You shower, moisturize, get dressed, pull your clean hair back in a bun, and light your palo santo to rid your space of any funky energy that might be around.
You sit down at your desk to work, take a deep, cleansing breath, and……you start to cry. You just feel so overwhelmed. You should be feeling good right now. You’re putting your self-care routine to practice. You’re even drinking water!
But you’re still not ok.
What the hell, right?
For some people, it’s pretty frustrating. But for a lot of people, this scenario is unproductive and harmful.
But isn’t self-care good for you?
Short answer: Yes!
The problem is not self-care in and of itself. The problem arises when you are carrying out these “self-care” practices without understanding what they are and without addressing your underlying issues.
Let me explain.
In 2020, we were blindsided (debatable) by the Covid-19 pandemic. The world saw depression and anxiety jump by 25% according to the WHO. People were suddenly isolated from one another, dying without being able to say goodbye to loved ones in person, and in the US, the political divide widened and intensified. We were being traumatized in real-time.
The concept of self-care was not new by any stretch of the imagination, but it shifted front and center during the pandemic. People started talking about what your self-care practice should look like and it was all over social media. As I am writing this, I can see the neutral colors of Instagram reels featuring beautiful people with sun-kissed, glistening skin, doing yoga in nature, inviting you to do the same. But you had to make sure that you journaled, worked out, meal prepped, and moisturized too. Oh, and have a group of friends that can check on each other. Don’t forget family! Family is another key to self-care success. Ah! Meditation. Gotta meditate. Mindfulness is essential. What about inner-child work? Throw that in there too.
Inner-child work?
