There is a silent 21st century epidemic that’s not being talked about. It’s the self neglect epidemic that afflicts many of us, but in particular women. You can choose any living generation of women and see gross self neglect present for most in some form or another. Whether it’s neglecting our health, our mental wellbeing or our emotional needs we consistently fail to put our own oxygen mask on first as we are so busy caring for others in our life.
We have a chronic problem of putting others needs ahead of our own. Somehow it’s become the norm for women that have mapped out a life for themselves that includes progressing their career, having a family and living a happy life, that in reality becomes an unrecognisable existence of obligation and resentment. All because they neglect their self care.
Generation X women particularly struggle with looking after themselves. We are told we can have a career, family, a great lifestyle, all of it and we can, but it comes at a cost. Usually it is at the expense of our physical, mental and emotional health. We find ourselves doing the majority of the caring for our children, caring for ageing parents and continuing to carry the majority of the mental load because the statistics tell us that our partners are still not taking on 50% of the load at home. Then we add in work on top of that.
We find ourselves doing a never-ending double, even triple shift. And we recognise it but suffer in silence or get annoyed about it premenstrually, get angry for a few days then go back to do it all over again for another month! The result of chronic neglect? Women that are stressed, stretched and struggling. They are also exhausted, under-employed, and overwhelmed.
The solution to this self neglect epidemic is to first decide to make ourselves our biggest priority. Ladies, it’s time to put the oxygen mask on and reconnect with what our needs are and live a life that is aligned with who we are. Let’s break the generational cycle of women shelving their needs and choose and model a better life for women for generations to come.
Choosing to put Me first means we:
Live a life that is in alignment
Nurture ourselves
Have our needs met
Rely on ourselves for our own happiness
Practice self love rather than co-dependence
Feel connected to ourselves and the world around us
Replace judgement with support and acceptance for other women
It might even mean it’s time for reinvention and transformation
To do this we commit to radical self care. Not just regular self care. It needs to be radical because we have neglected ourselves for too long and hence there is a lot of self caring that needs to be had to get up to speed with where we women should be.
It’s not day spa treatments and massages. It’s not time away on holidays to recharge to then go back to your usual life and deplete yourself again. It’s sustainable, it’s realistic and it’s about living in alignment all of the time.