Why doesn't taking care of myself come naturally to me?

There are a myriad of reasons why we may not take care of ourselves well. Maybe we've always relied on others to take care of us, or we never really picked up the good habits as a kid and we struggle to pick them up now. Maybe the experiences we go through saps us of energy we needed for ourselves. At any rate, few things come naturally to us, we don't even think now when we walk but when we first tried out our legs they wouldn't go where we wanted them and kept wobbling and collapsing. Know that whatever efforts you make to take care of yourself will count in the short run and the long run ^^

Sometimes a person can get stuck in a form of depression, where self-care seems like a overwhelming task. I do not know if this applies to your situation or not.

I'm not sure because I"m not you, but I can offer some things to think about. Building healthy habits takes a long time and mostly starts in our young childhood. If, when we're chlidren, we take the attitude of "well I have my whole life to learn this so I won't do it now" we are much less likely to learn it later or apply it to our lives appropriately. Having said that, once we recognize that we are lacking routine in certain habits, we have the opportunity to try again to set routines for ourselvse - and routines are best when it comes to taking care of ourselves, because it programs these actions into our brains. If we don't love ourselves due to self-confidence issues, depression, or another challenge, we may not see "the point" in taking care of ourselves. If this is the case, building healthy habits is even more difficult, but that's okay! If you work on your self-confidence and self-love, while also trying to keep to at least part of a routine, you may begin to see a difference. If you miss a day or a task, don't beat yourself up over it - just acknowledge that you missed it and try again the next day; but always reward yourself for the tasks or days that you totally take care of yourself with

Sometimes you can feel like you don't deserve to be taken care of, but you just have to remember that you deserve it as much as everyone else. Never be afraid to put yourself first, and as you do you'll find that the people around you adjust their behaviours as well. Learn to really love yourself and things will always improve. You are amazing and have everything to live for.

Probably because your brain is saying that you deserve the abuse. Maybe your brain is constantly supplying thoughts oh how you're ugly and worthless and deserve to skip a meal because if someone in Africa is skipping a meal then so do you and how you are stu- Needless to say, it's all in your head. It's going to be tough, but you need to combat these thoughts and starting eating at least once a day. Start buying that shirt that you really wanted. Because, believe it or not, you are an amazing human being who deserves so much more than I can give you.

We all are raised thinking negative about ourself, criticizing ourself thinking that our achievements and victories are not that big, seeing what others have better than us, even when it comes to love, we love others more than we love ourself! Maybe that is the reason taking care of us doesn't naturally comes to us!

Failing to take care of myself generally stemmed from a history of others pressuring me to put their wants and needs ahead of my own. Self-care is a skill, and like any skill, it requires regular practice to maintain. Instead, I practiced always putting others ahead of myself, even to my own detriment. So, I had to take a real mindful effort to prioritize myself and take care of my needs to begin making it a regular practice.

We are socialized to think of "relationships" as something we have with others but not so much with ourselves. Developing a relationship with yourself may help you see more clearly how you would like to prioritize yourself within your life. There is emerging research in the fields of positive and organizational psychology that distinguishes among selfish, selfless, and "otherish" orientations. The selfish orientation is when you prioritize yourself over others. The selfless orientation is when you prioritize others over yourself. And the otherish oriention is when you think yourself as another person in your life. Research suggests that successful people in business tend to be "otherish." Try it out and see if it applies in your personal life as well.

You're not alone, it doesn't come naturally to many people! At some point, putting other people first teaches you that you come second, and in your own life, your mental and physical wellness should always come first. Picking up healthy habits for your mental and physical state is a learning process, and everyone takes it at their own pace.