What Gets In the Way of Your Self-Care?
In my last post, we established that taking care of ourselves is important and Biblical. Yet this is something we all (myself included!) struggle with at some point. What are some of the obstacles that you encounter when trying to take care of yourself?
- Guilt
- Lack of time
- Spouse not supportive
- Overcommitments
- Kids (child care, schedules, etc)
- Cost
- __________________________________
- __________________________________
A Word About Guilt
Many women cite guilt as the number one barrier to their own self care. Feeling bad about leaving the kids, not wanting to disappoint others, perceiving lack of support from their husband.
Guilt is not an emotion that comes from God. Guilt comes from lies such as:
- My needs are not important
- I’m not enough
- I should be able to handle all of this
- I’m not a good mom if I leave my kids
When you find yourself buying into those lies, take a moment to label them (writing them down helps), and replace them with truth such as:
- I am God’s Child (John 1:12)
- I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10)
- I am God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)
- I cannot be separated from the love of God (Romans 8:35-29)
- My worth comes from Christ, not from my performance or others’ opinions of me
From a practical standpoint consider this question: How helpful, compassionate, and patient am I going to be to my spouse/children/coworkers when I’m exhausted and overwhelmed?
To read more about self care, including lots of practical ideas that you can start implementing right now, check out my ebook here.