Saturday, August 2, 2008

Self-care Won't Come Easy

What do you do when you feel too tired?

Do you give yourself guilt-free time to rest--or do you treat yourself with harshness and push on until you get sick? How about when you notice that you work longer hours than anyone else at work...because you never say no, never state any limit of how much you can reasonably accomplish? Have you ever felt like you are doing too much, but keep pushing harder and harder anyway? Maybe you don't work too hard but you treat yourself in a way that you wouldn't dream of treating others. Maybe you're impatient with yourself or tell yourself lies. Learning to take care of your needs will be a struggle if you are recovering from abuse. Abuse taught you that your needs don't matter.

But the messages of abuse are wrong.

Each human being was uniquely created by God. Each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made by a creator who loves us. He urges us to treat our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. A temple is cared for and treated with respect.

Of course, agreeing with the preceding paragraph does not make it automatically easy to take proper care of yourself. But it is a start. A very good beginning. When I fall back into driving myself too hard and acting as if I have an indestructible body without any needs, I need to remind myself that it is not selfish to take care of physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. I am honoring God when I treat myself as someone who is a member of God's kingdom--someone whose needs are normal and important.

1 comment:

Myth Maker said...

THANK U FOR THE ARTICLE...

Recommended Books

  • 10 Lifesaving Principles for Women in Difficult Marriages by Karla Downing
  • A Way of Hope by Leslie J. Barner
  • Angry Men and the Women Who Love Them by Paul Hegstrom
  • Battered But Not Broken by Patricia Riddle Gaddis
  • Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
  • Bradshaw on the Family by John Bradshaw
  • Caring Enough to Forgive/Not Forgive by David Augsburger
  • Codependent No More by Melody Beattie
  • Healing the Wounded Heart by Dr. Dan B. Allendar
  • Keeping the Faith: Questions and Answers for the Abused Woman by Marie M. Fortune
  • Perfect Daughters by Robert J. Ackerman, Ph.D.
  • Recovery: A Guide for Adult Children of Alcoholics by Herbert L. Gravitz and Julie D. Bowden
  • Safe People by Dr Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
  • Slay Your Own Dragons by Nancy Good
  • The Cinderella Syndrome by Lee Ezell
  • The Dance of Anger by Harriet Goldhor Lerner, Ph.D.
  • The Search for Significance by Robert S. McGee
  • Turning Fear to Hope by Holly Wagner Green
  • When Violence Comes Home: Help for Victims of Spouse Abuse by Tim Jackson and Jeff Olson
  • Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft