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The Self-Care Trap: How To Actually Care for Yourself on Your Journey to Improving
The following is an excerpt, Chapter 12, from my new book — Real Help: An Honest Guide to Self-Improvement
Quick test for a con: what questions does it not occur to you to ask? — The Last Psychiatrist
We’ve spent time talking about the mindset you’ll need to have to give your new journey in life a real shot at success. A big part of that mindset will involve the way you treat yourself throughout the process.
Often, the challenges themselves don’t get in your way, but rather the way you treat yourself and talk to yourself throughout the process does. Many people fail not because they lack talent, but because they lack energy and sanity throughout the process.
This is where self-care comes in. You do have to take care of yourself over the long-haul, but the idea of self-care can quickly become a trap.
They go by many descriptions — the self-care guru, meditation sage, the Buddhist hipster, the “treat yourself” enabler. Their goals and opinions are the exact opposite of the prototypical gurus.
Instead of telling you to pull yourself up by the bootstraps, they pretend bootstraps don’t exist. Instead of telling you you’re…