Replacing Self-Help with Self-Encouragement

Most people could use self-encouragement over self-help.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Let’s face it — the idea of self-help has been hacked to pieces for many people.

It’s like being in a sudden deluge of rain. You were soaked to the bone after a few seconds — but it continues to inundate you.

A lot of people get frustrated with all the notions of self-help. In time, it goes from the simple idea that you are capable of working on your inner being and its depths to an all-encompassing do-or-die expectation.

More than once, someone has become irked with me for suggesting self-help ideas. And I get that. It becomes like background chatter — just one of many notions for how to live.

When you are coping with anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues, the constant reminders of self-help start to feel disingenuous, patronizing, and infuriating. More than once I’ve heard it said or implied, “Don’t you think if I could help myself here, I’d not be in this situation?”

I get it. Also, I know that sometimes I can seem preachy with all the self-helpery I share. My notions of mindfulness, conscious reality creation, and positivity to help your self begin to sound and feel like all the rest of the noise.

Let’s face it — many of the self-help gurus are hacks. They come from privilege, they only share so much without extracting cash from you, and they spout platitudes and overused lines without offering more than that. I think there is still value to many of these people — but you need to disseminate it from the whole.

I am taking a new approach. You know how you can help yourself. You don’t need me to beat you over the head with it. Instead, I am offering encouragement.

You, your self, and getting help

There are some important factors to take into consideration when it comes to you and your state of being. These include:

• You are the only one inside your head, heart, and soul
• The only person who can think and feel for you is you
• If you do not desire help — you won’t accept or take help