Test: What stops you taking your needs seriously?

It’s frustrating if despite your best intentions you can’t seem to consistently take care of yourself. Do you find it hard to prioritise lifestyle choices even when you know they’re important or in your best interests? Self-sabotage often shows up as moving the goalposts – telling yourself you’ll start tomorrow, or it doesn’t matter if you skip a day and revert to old habits.

You might also find it hard to resist doomscrolling or procrastinating when the alternative is doing something slightly out of your comfort zone. Your response may be to give yourself a hard time for being lazy or having no willpower but more often than not, we avoid challenge out of fear. Afterall, committing to prioritising ourselves can be daunting – what if we never reach our potential, or we just can’t keep the effort going in the long-term?

You might have periods when you feel fired up and motivated, but can find it hard to hold onto the bigger picture and keep in mind the end goal that makes the effort of initially changing your daily routine worthwhile. But remember – self-sabotage is usually an act of self-protection, so rather than berating yourself, be your own coach instead, and remind yourself that you can do hard things, and you always feel better when you do.

Your next steps
1. Take one day at a time – focus on making good choices today, and don’t think about whether you can keep them up in the long-term.
2. Team up with a friend – you’re less likely to skip plans to do yoga or go for walk if it means letting someone else down.