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

Taking care of yourself is essential for your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Although there are times where self-care may not seem to feel as natural as we may think. Identifying unique needs and them meeting them with nurture can be quite the feat, especially if you are not used to doing it, have suffered childhood neglect, or have an illness such as depression. Start small. Make very small, gentle, and attainable goals, these will lead to bigger ones.

Mental health affects a lot of people and taking care of yourself is one thing that it may decrease your interest in. A lot of people struggle with taking care of themselves mentally and physically and talking to a therapist about it or downloading an app (ie. Pacifica) may help you to track your habits and allow you to work on improving them.

because we feel guilty if we put ourselves first. just do a few small things a day which will have a big effect, walking, exercise and mindfulness help me alot

I believe that for many of us, we are wired to care for others and we are also culturally taught, whether consciously or unconsciously, that putting our own needs before those of others is greedy and self-centred. Overcoming natural wiring and a lifetime of cultural conditioning is a challenge, but not impossible.

This might be happening for many reasons, but it is normal. Unfortunately, in today's society, it is normal to not like ourselves, to be extremely judgmental, etc. Learning how to love yourself might be a long process, but it is completely worth the work. Start with small things and work your way up. In my opinion, it is all about "fake it until you make it".

Because sometimes we are taught that we have to put others before ourselves but taking care of ourselves is equally, if not, more important.

Well, Unfortunately some people just don't have what it takes to be able to take care of themselves. I personally will go a week or more not showering simply because i cant find motivation to do so

First off, it is great that you are asking yourself this question! You have recognized a pattern and identified a problem that needs solving. Many people have trouble with this, and i want to remind you that you are not alone. As for why this is a pattern for you as an individual, there could be a variety of answers, but broadly speaking, it might have something to do with an experience or set of experiences that you have had. I would recommend working on this with a therapist, someone who can have this conversation with you in confidence and who has a lot of educational background that would help you move forward in your own life.

It doesn't come naturally to anyone. I don't believe many people have woken up one day and decided to take their vitamins every day, go to the gym 4 times a week and decide to have the friend circle they want. Taking care of yourself is NOT easy. Now what you might ask is what can I do to actually take care of myself and it's something that you have to start slowly and believe that the process will work. A good first step would be to start something or remove something that is hurting you(things you can manage to do) and then you will really learn how to take care of yourself. Just do the first step and it will come to you.

Many times we get wrapped up in our emotions and forget to do the most basic of things. When we do basic things, it makes everything much easier.