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.

If you struggle with feelings of worthlessness or depression, it can become difficult to focus on yourself, or you may lack the energy it takes to take care of your basic needs. It takes energy, and dedication!

Self-care consists of many routine actions and not all of them are interesting or exiting. You need to develop healthy habbits and then self-care will come almost automaticly and won't require much effort. Forming habbits is difficult but it is worth it.

I was raised in a culture that praises the ignoring of ones needs. Even going to the doctor was made out to be a bad thing. If you couldn't "muscle through" you were made out to be weak. I internalized that message and learned to ignore my needs. It took a lot of therapy to undo that damage, but now I am proud of the fact that I take great care of myself.

Taking care of myself doesn't come naturally to me as I never learned that I deserved to take care of myself or indeed, how to do it. I learned how to look after others when I was young. Now that I am an adult, I want to reaffirm my ability and desire to look after myself properly, as and when it is appropriate.

Why do you feel this way? Can you share your thoughts on how you feel about this? Please feel free to share how you feel.

Many people struggle with self care or feel like it doesn't come naturally to them. Often that can happen because when we are children we mirror the behaviour of others towards us. Many adults still walk around with the internalized voices of their parents in their minds. When we grow older it might also happen that other people treat us poorly and we continue to mirror their behaviour towards us. It can also happen that we don't value ourselves or think that we are not worthy of self care. But that is simply not true. Another possibility is that it is difficult, because some people always feel that they have to put other people before themselves to the point that they have nothing left to give. That is not meaningful or maintainable. You can't give someone else water if there is no water in your own cup. Your first responsibility is towards yourself and if you've taken good care of yourself then you have good things to give to other people too. The good news is self care is something that can be learned. It will feel difficult or weird in the beginning and that's okay. Just keep practicing. Start with small and simple things and gradually work towards the bigger things. It's also okay if you struggle to learn it as a habit. It's also part of self care to have grace with yourself. So if you can't do it today you don't have to berate yourself. You can simply tell yourself that you will try again tomorrow. It does get easier.

To some people it doesn't come naturally because they weren't taught that it is an important thing to do. Like me for example. I always learnt that taking care of everyone else is a very good and needed thing, but it made me think that taking care of myself was a stupid and unneeded thing to do. Now I start to know better, because in the end it's all we have. In the end it's just ourselves, so we better make something good out of it. Taking care of yourself, accepting yourself and loving yourself is the most important thing in life.

I can't tell you what your specific reason is since it's different for different people, but I CAN tell you this is really common for many different reasons. If you need help to figure this out, there's no shame in that at all. You're doing really great just by being here and seeking support. You know yourself better than anyone, and it might help to think about the times where you have done better and done worse at taking care of yourself, and identify the differences in your situation. I've been right there with you at times, and I know how awful it feels. Keep your head up and keep reaching out ♡

Sometimes some people are better at taking care of others rather than caring for themselves. Sometimes we forget how important self-care is or know it's important but rather do other things. What makes self-care difficult for you?

It feels like I am not as important as the others around me even though we are all humans and all humans deserve the same amount of love and care. I need to understand my worth sometimes and I know that's okay. I just compare myself to others too much and feel like they deserve more than me. But taking care of me is just too much sometimes and I understand that I need to work on it. Taking care of me is the least I could do for such an amazing soul that's kept me going in life.