Self-Neglect Anonymous

Hi, my name is Pamela… I’m a self-neglecter… Thinking about my mental-struggles over self-care today, I thought “I need a self-care buddy.” Forget a walking buddy or a diet buddy, I need someone to go to the core with me and tell me when I’m rationalizing away my own right to thrive. Then I started imagining a 12-step-like group for women like me who find it so hard to make taking care of ourselves a priority. What would our steps be? Maybe these nine…

1. We admitted that we have been powerless over our desire to take care of others—that our well-being and happiness have suffered.
2. Yet, we came to realize that only we have the power to take care of ourselves.
3. We made a decision to come together in support of each other in this goal.
4. We made a searching and fearless inventory of our negative self-talk and self-neglect behaviors.
5. We admitted to ourselves and to each other our complicity in perpetuating our self-neglect behaviors as well as those of other women in our lives.
6. We have forgiven ourselves and each other.
7. We are entirely ready to work together to change our thought and behavior patterns.
8. We seek to create space in our lives for our self-care.
9. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to all women, and to practice self-care in our daily lives.