Let's start with selfish. It has a very negative connotation and given the definition (seen below), I guess I'm not surprised.
Why isn't it OK to do things for your own benefit without being labeled as self-centered or egotistical (as was listed in the definition)? As long as you're not making a choice to deliberately harm others, isn't it OK to choose your own "profit or pleasure" sometimes?
Now, let's move on to self-care. Sadly, it doesn't have a dictionary definition. Wikipedia is the best source I found.
This sounds good, right? Healthy even. Wiki even says that preventative medicine counts as self-care.
So how do we differentiate between the two? What actions are selfish vs self-care? I'm having a hard time with this. The internet has offered some help through these graphics:
Honestly, I struggle with selfish vs. self-care. Constantly. Not just in deciding how to categorize things. But in practicing them. I'm not good at self-care because I'm too worried about being perceived as selfish. Because I'm not egotistical. I'm not self-centered. I do have regard for others. I'm not a terrible person and I don't feel like I should be labeled as such just for trying to take care of myself.
What do you think? How do you differentiate self-care from selfishness?
I struggle with this often as well. I think sometimes the problem is that we need to realize that often those that we fear would label us as selfish are in fact the selfish ones. They resent the fact that we are putting our own well-being ahead of theirs.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I think self-care is taking care of our own needs first so we can best attend to the needs of others.