Issue #37: Debunking the Common Myths Around Self-Care & Rest
Because we can't talk about rest without changing your mindset around it.
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Picture this, the year is 2014. I could still party all night and get up the next morning like it was nothing and you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” blasting.
I was also a little over a year into full-time entrepreneurship and I had a budding online shop that I had just rebranded. And after experiencing a lot of loneliness, I decided to dive head-first into blogging about my entrepreneurial experience.
Months later, I was blogging every day, making jewelry, and fulfilling orders, and had just picked up my first few business coaching clients. Which I was charging a whopping $50 for an hour of business auditing and strategy.
During this time I also discovered the world of online marketing and consumed every marketing bro’s blog, Youtube videos, and books. If you’ve ever been down this road before, then you know that many of these “old school” marketers believed in one common phrase; “You can sleep when you’re dead.” They pushed hustle culture like it was a drug and I was addicted to the thrill.
So I worked. I studied and consumed every piece of content that I could find on how to grow a business. I made jewelry, fulfilled orders, and made post-office runs. I blogged every morning and took on clients in the evenings. Even though I was still making very little, I thought that was the key to success. I mean, if the marketing bro’s said that working non-stop was the way to success, then dammit, I was going to work myself to the bone.
That was until I couldn’t. Instead of swimming in a pool of money, I found myself struggling with anxiety, completely unhappy with the work that I was doing, exhausted, and still very much BROKE.
It didn’t take me long to realize that everything that I had been taught was a lie. Yes, hard work is necessary to run a successful business, but there are also a lot more factors that play into reaching your goals. And adequate rest is one of them.
Back then there was so much that I didn’t know about rest. It was ingrained in me that rest and self-care meant that I was lazy, missing out on something, or not serious about the work that I was doing. I thought that if I could just push through now, I could catch up on rest later. It was all a lie.
Today, I wanted to chat about some of the myths you probably also believe about rest and self-care. We can’t come up with a proper solution if you still believe the lies you’ve been fed.
MYTH #1: SELF-CARE IS TIME CONSUMING
You may feel like in order to really be good at self-care then you have to have this full elaborate routine that will take an entire day to implement. That is a lie. While I encourage most people to spend at least an hour a day focusing on themselves, you’d be amazed at how good you can feel by just taking 10 mins to meditate and breathe. This is actually my go-to when I’m in the middle of a busy day.
MYTH #2: SELF-CARE IS ALWAYS RELAXING
A few months ago, I talked about embracing the not-so-sweet side of self-care. While we all would love to just take bubble baths and get massages, sometimes the self-care we need is the kind that doesn’t feel that great. Like therapy. I believe that one of the greatest forms of self-care is to talk with a professional about everything that is going on in your head. But sometimes bringing up past traumas or old memories doesn’t feel as good as just taking a nap. Remember, rest is about a lot more than just relaxing your body.
MYTH #3: YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR THE RIGHT TO REST
Rest is not a reward, it’s a necessity. And as I’ve previously stated, it’s your most profitable business strategy. I used to tell myself that because I wasn’t where I wanted to be, then I had no right to want to rest. That lie is what led me to burnout. Because honestly, are we ever where we want to be? I feel like with each big milestone we hit, we create another one. There is always another goal to achieve so if we keep waiting until we are where we want to be, we’ll never give ourselves time to rest.
MYTH #4: SELF-CARE IS SELFISH
We’ve all heard this or felt like this before but self-care isn’t selfish. When you take proper care of yourself and do things that rejuvenate your mind and body, you have more to give to the people and projects around you. Yes, taking care of yourself may require you to say no or miss out on some important events but if what you’re doing is making you a better entrepreneur, friend, parent, or human, is it really selfish? I think not!
I want to hear from you, what myths did you have to push past in order to start prioritizing rest and self-care? What myths do you feel are still holding you back? Let me know in the comments!
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I like how you mentioned the struggle of ending up in the "hustle" mentality trap, I think so many people can relate to that feeling. Personally I had to push through all of these myths and acknowledge there's another way and a much more rewarding way of living life ❤️
Thanks so much for the shoutout! 💜