“Me” Time: Finding the Balance Between Taking Care of Others and Taking Care of Yourself

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Are unresolved childhood issues dictating your life? Anyone trying to balance a demanding job and family obligations knows it’s easy to go weeks without any quality alone time. But if you had unmet emotional or physical needs while growing up, chances are good that all that people-pleasing is driven by unhealthy patterns. ”Me” Time focuses on the latter scenario, and if your childhood was dominated by parents with addiction problems, mental health issues or physical illness, chances are good you’ll identify with one of the book’s case studies.

We’ve all seen—and maybe even been—that person who aggressively gives their all to others, then ends up feeling resentful, depressed, or anxious. Beall says the key is learning to distinguish altruism from codependency, and she gives readers practical tools to get there. Readers will learn how to delegate tasks, say no, and set other boundaries—recognizing that chronically bending over backwards for others isn’t necessarily a sign of generosity as much as low self-esteem. Once we start thinking beyond a selfish/selfless dichotomy, we can appreciate the importance of recharging our batteries.

The bottom line here is that we are all meant to help our fellow humans, but if we do it exclusively at our own expense, our lives will fall out of balance, risking our health, sanity, and, eventually, the ability to help others. The oxygen mask principle can apply to everyone: first make sure you’re okay, and only then, help others. But it’s important to note that while the title might indicate the pursuit of balance by the average working mom, it’s actually geared more toward the person whose damaging childhood is sabotaging her adulthood. The author is so committed to helping people root out this unconscious behavior, in fact, she’s also created a free e-course called “Don’t Believe Everything You Think: Change Your Thinking and Change Your Life,” which sounds like a good complement to this paperback therapy.


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Author
Star Count 4/5
Format Trade
Page Count 320 pages
Publisher YourBalance Publishing
Publish Date 03-Aug-2012
ISBN 9780615671741
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue April 2014
Category Self-Help
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