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Stop Telling Depressed People to “Love Themselves”
Badly packaged good advice is just bad advice.
Of all the concepts that people in self-improvement love to preach, “self-love” is the most complicated one. It’s complicated because, well, it’s actually good advice.
You should love yourself. You should treat yourself like someone who you are responsible for helping because you are someone who you are responsible for helping.
You should also practice self-care. By self-care, I don’t mean bubble baths (though if that’s your thing don’t let me stop you), I mean that you should do things like practicing good nutrition, healthy social interactions, regular sleep, exercise, and all that stuff.
But still, something about self-love bothers me.
Why? Because for some people, self-love isn’t a realistic proposition. At least, not yet.
Dancing With Toxic Positivity
Okay, time to get intimate.
One of my biggest character flaws is a lack of self-awareness. Too often, I’ll let my own anxieties blind me to the true nature of reality and I’ll act based on my own cognitive distortions. The worst part about my lack of self-awareness is that I’m easily able to mask my “doubts” with intelligence and…
