Why Your Self-Care Isn’t Working for You

If you’re burnt out, you’ve heard this approximately two million times: the solution is self-care. Take more time for yourself. Move your body. Get more sleep. Do something pleasurable.

Don’t get me wrong—I am 100% in favor of these things and work them into my life as much as I can. And they DO help. Sometimes a little, sometimes more than a little.

The problem is that many of us are doing these things in one way or another and it’s not enough. We’re still so freakin’ tired, and then we feel even worse because if the self-care didn’t help us feel better, THEN what?

Here’s the thing, my friend: 5 or 15 or 45 minutes of time for yourself is not going to fix your problem if you’re spending the other 16ish waking hours of your day trying to be all things to all people and striving to meet impossible standards.

If you’re trying to make everyone else happy, keeping yourself chained to the “shoulds,” scrambling to meet unrealistic expectations, or swallowing down the things you really want to say and do, you’re going to feel your life force being sucked away, self-care or not.

We underestimate how exhausting it is to pretend, to silence ourselves, to play the comparison game, and to keep striving for things that aren’t truly important to us. 

True self-care can absolutely help you connect with the most essential parts of yourself. But if your essential self is still buried in your day-to-day life, there is not enough self-care in the world that will be enough.

We find relief and release when we let our truest selves show up in our LIVES, not just on the yoga mat.

So yes, PLEASE take that critical time for yourself. Meditate, journal, rest, play. Find what feels good and true for you. Connect with those deepest parts of yourself. 

And then bring those parts out into the world. 

Say yes. Say no. Speak up. Do the thing. Don’t do the thing. Stop apologizing. Stop pleasing. Say hell no to the thing that you know is bullshit and where you’re tired of playing the game.

THAT, my dear one, is what will fill you up. That is how you start to feel like yourself again.

I know this isn’t easy, but it IS possible, and it’s more in reach than you think. 

If you want help, I’ve got you. In just 12 weeks, you can learn tools that will help you leave behind what’s draining you and welcome in more of the things that fill you up. Visit here to learn more.