Helping ourselves and our patients to reconcile the self sacrifice with the self care

It’s common for me to see folks who are constantly in an internal struggle between the thoughts of “How can I help” vs “What about me”.

It’s a real inner tug of war at times.

I am sure some of you, and even many of you perhaps, can relate to this phenomenon. The care industry often attracts the self sacrificers don’t they?

How do we get out of this inner struggle? Understanding and awareness first may help.

Like a computer program, when one criteria is in conflict with another, we must instruct it to go somewhere, and not be stuck in limbo. Being in limbo is often worse than bad news.

When we are in this inner struggle, we might freeze, and just as problematic, we might flight or fight with those around us who we care deeply about.

When “looking after others” is in conflict with “looking after self”, look after self first so that we can then look after others more effectively. We don’t need permission to do that do we?

So please consider “recoding your code” perhaps.

We can do it with DRSABCD with check “danger to self” 1st, so I am sure we can apply this principle to self care and life as well.

Right?