Top 10 Common Self-Care Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
A good self-care practice is a practice that works for you. It improves and supports your mental, emotional, and physical health, and impacts your general wellbeing.
How do you recognize that your self-care is working for you?
You should notice some of these benefits:
- reduced stress and anxiety
- improved mental health
- feel more centered and balanced
- more connected to your inner self
- feel more in control
- healthier and stronger body
- improved work-life balance
- improved productivity
- better sleep
- feel more present
- improved time-management
- enhanced self-esteem
If you’ve implemented a self-care routine in your daily life but have yet to notice any changes and results, maybe it just requires some changes. After all, it’s natural to make mistakes when you start something as you’re still experimenting and figuring out what does and doesn’t work for you.
So let’s see how we can avoid or fix these mistakes and help you improve your self-care routine so that you can reap all the benefits.
10 Common Self-care Mistakes And How To Avoid Them:
1. Lack of direction and clarity
When you start a self-care routine, you might jump right into it without taking the time to figure out exactly what you wish to gain from it beforehand, so the practice ends up being random and unfocused because it lacks a clear direction.
Fix it:
Just take the time to reflect and assess your life to figure out exactly what your needs and goals are, so that you can gain clarity and know which direction to go.
2. Too much at once
When you start something and can’t wait for the results, it might seem like a good idea to do a lot so that you notice results sooner. Or maybe you’re aiming for too much at once so you end up focusing on too many steps.
Fix it:
You want to pace yourself and focus on establishing your self-care routine one step at a time to maintain a healthy balance.
3. Not listening to yourself
Self-care is all about listening to yourself so you can look after yourself properly. How do you feel? How does your body feel? What do you need? If you don’t take the time to tune in and reflect, you can’t adapt your efforts to match what you need.
Fix it:
Listen to yourself. Really take the time to check in with yourself, to tune in and then go from there.
4. Lack of adaptation and adjustment
Life is constantly evolving, and it’s natural for your needs, goals, and desires to change as well, and when they do, so should your self-care plan and practice.
Also, if you try and implement new habits in your routine and they don’t work for you, do not hesitate to get rid of them. Don’t keep them because ‘that’s what you’re supposed to do’.
Fix it:
Do not hesitate to adapt and adjust your self-care practice and plan when you need to so it actually fits you.
5. Too much self-indulgence
Many people use self-care as an excuse to overindulge. But self-care doesn’t revolve around going to the spa, getting a massage, buying the latest trend or whatever else – especially if you do this while avoiding the important stuff you’re putting off but should be focusing on instead.
Fix it:
Be honest with yourself. If you notice yourself doing this, push yourself to do the uncomfortable and unpleasant stuff you don’t want to do (then the indulging can become an occasional treat – though only if it is in your budget and doesn’t cause you financial stress).
6. Inconsistent
Consistency is what brings you results. This is one of the major lessons in life: to get results, consistency is key. If you don’t actually invest the time on accomplishing your goals, your results are going to be lackluster.
Fix it:
You get what you work for, so you have to actually commit to your self-care practice if you want to achieve results and reach your goals.
7. Too Impatient
When you start something new, it’s only natural to become impatient to notice results. But sometimes it needs time. Long-lasting benefits are rarely immediate.
If you feel like your routine isn’t efficient and you don’t notice any improvements, maybe you’re just not giving it enough time. Self-care is a process, after all, not a magic trick. So perhaps you just need to wait a bit longer before you actually start noticing the changes.
Fix it:
Give it some more time and be patient. And if you do and still fail to notice any results or feel better, then you can try altering and tweaking your routine.
8. Focusing too much on the aesthetic
Self-care shouldn’t be reduced to an ‘Instagramable’ or aesthetic trend.
If all the aesthetically pleasing posts and pictures motivate and inspire you, that’s great. But if you’re looking for a practice to achieve real and life-changing results, then the aesthetic part cannot be your sole goal and focus. Real self-care can’t revolve only around the external appearance of the practice. It has to go beyond mere aesthetics and focus on beneficial habits and actions that actually support your well-being and add value to your life.
Fix it:
Self-care isn’t meant to be an aesthetic trend. Those immaculate pictures are not meant to be realistic but photogenic.
So reflect on how you approach your practice, and try focusing on creating a practice that might be less aesthetically perfect but actually more effective and beneficial.
9. Self-comparison
Every self-care practice is different. But it is easy to try to mold your own based on what others’ practices look like, and when you do, you end up neglecting and dismissing your individual differences and preferences.
What might work for others might not actually work for you. And if you’re too busy trying to create a practice to match others’, then your own ends up not matching you, your own tastes and needs and goals.
Fix it:
Recognize when you’re comparing yourself to others, and simply shift your attention back to yourself. Remind yourself that everyone is different, and focus on what actually works for you and brings you results.
10. An Incomplete and Unbalanced Practice
You’re neglecting some of the key self-care pillars.
There are seven self-care pillars, and an effective and balanced practice should ideally cover each one of them (at least to some degree, you cannot realistically focus on the seven every day).
Fix it:
Reflect on your life and notice which aspect is unbalanced and requires attention, then focus on rectifying it. Figure out what you can do to fix it, then do it.
Last word
If your self-care routine is yet to produce any result, that’s okay. Don’t worry. Remember, self-care is like anything else, it might take some time before it can become great and effective. But if you take the time to develop your own personalized routine properly, and do not hesitate to tweak, change, or adapt it when needed, it will help you reach your goals and provide life-changing results.
Remember to take care and be kind to yourself. You deserve it.