A balancing act between self-care, self-respect, shame, and the Greater Good
Even though I’ve been using the phrase “I’m selfish” for most of my life, it’s become increasingly apparent to me over the past few months whenever I’ve said, “I’m going to be selfish today and do … xyz.”, and meant things like “… and write on my own blog,” “… and sew myself a skirt,” or “… and take the day off” (after I’d been working virtually every day of the week, including weekends, for weeks or longer).
These rather distorted thoughts illustrate very well how “being selfish” in its various forms is often used as a weapon, especially in “Western” society. It would be much more precise to explore the question of what intention drives us to do things and which of these might even be a basic need or a desire. And that is exactly what I’m going to do here.