I previously shared what can happen when biohacking goes wrong. I became a huge fan of cold showers, intermittent fasting, and countless other tips from various sources, all with the goal of self-improvement.
But then something went awry. In my quest to follow everyone else’s advice, I overlooked the most crucial one: to listen to my own body. It was time to stop the noise and focus on what I truly needed.
While educating yourself is important, it’s equally vital to approach information critically and mindfully. Even if something is backed by science, it doesnβt guarantee that your body will respond well to it.
Listening to yourself and tuning into your senses is essential. The only knowledge you truly need is an understanding of your own body. Weβre all born with this awareness, but distractions often drown it out. In todayβs noisy world, itβs easy to forget.
One tool I recommend is mindfulness, which can help you reconnect with your body. Alternatively, find any practice that fosters that connection for you.
I also came across another interesting story worth sharing.
What about you? Do you have any experience with following others’ advice to the point of harming yourself?
It’s like what George Carlin said about the term “self-help”…
“If you’re getting advice from someone else, then it’s not self-help, it’s help! If you did it yourself, you didn’t need the help. You did it yourself. There’s no such thing as self-help.”
It is an oxymoron, this term, “self-help”. You either receive help from someone else, or you do it yourself without the help.
As for what you said about listening to yourself, I agree. For example, we want different “treatments” for anxiety and depression, calling such feelings illnesses of their own. Anxiety and depression are not illnesses. They are symptoms, stemming from a much greater problem. To call anxiety and depression an illness, is to make both anxiety and depression as core problems. As you said with listening to yourself, both anxiety and depression act as signals, that like pain from a broken bone, should not be ignored.
My father struggled with a lot of pain in his own body, made up numerous excuses about it, before he realized it was cancer. Other people will state that their headaches are a normal occurrence or that they simply need more sleep, before they realize they have a tumor growing beneath their skull.
Signs like pain, especially of anxiety and depression, cannot be “treated” so they simply go away. It is not the pain that should disappear, as much as it is the source of the pain, like that example of a broken bone, that should disappear.
To alleviate the symptoms, that is important. Though, to cure what is sourcing the pain, that is more important.
Well said! I agree with you completely.
Now that you’ve mentioned, the title sounds really stupid to me too. It should be self development/improvement instead of self-help. Thanks for pointing it out. I’ll leave it like it is, it might lead others to some thinking too.
Oh, I wasn’t trying to call out the title. I just think the term, itself, is funny. George Carlin was a good comedian, in his day, so I thought to quote him. π
Well, he’s got a point. π
Yeah the title is perfect π because you’re talking about the thing that is out there and labeled by other people as ‘self-help’, whether it means the same to you or not.
“Signs like pain, especially of anxiety and depression, cannot be βtreatedβ so they simply go away. It is not the pain that should disappear, as much as it is the source of the pain, like that example of a broken bone, that should disappear.”
Thank you! I’ve had (and have) a lot of anxiety and depression caused by specific environmental stresses, and I know what it feels like for me to not have those. But I’m tired of people trying to suggest there’s something else I could do to reduce that stress (in the meantime whilst I go through the slow process of getting re-homed somewhere else etc), besides what I am already doing with practising not reacting to these things, keeping an inner calm as much as I can. There’s a fundamental, instinctive level on which my body and mind are still reacting to things like loud sounds (which actually most people do, but me especially).
So many useless charlatans and snake oil salesmen out there. 99% are only interested in making money from you. Useless books, courses, seminars, fake medicines and health supplements. The world is a bad place.
It’s scary how much crap information is out there.
And how many well educated people fall for it. π
Absolutely.
Really great points!
Thanks.
Nice
I’ve made myself get used to cold showers before, and to be honest it does feel good afterwards, but mostly you just don’t need the stress of building yourself up to it! Lol. I really think that these kinds of things are a way to make ourselves feel better to make up for other sources of anxiety or stress.
For many years I used my morning swimming to help make up for the anxiety and stress I felt in life, to help to motivate myself, but it eventually wore thin :). I will get back into the swimming when I can, but not to make up for those other things.
I’m not sure that I’ve followed other’s advise to the point of self-harm, however, I do very much appreciate your advice about listening to your body. Very important.
Once we’ve created a space to consider how we are feeling, I mean truly feeling, which means removing the distractions, without in our environment, yes, and also within ourselves, we can then create a space to make real choices, which are predicated on what we want, not what someone else says we should want.
Thanks for the post!
Jeff
When we have a problem, more than read self-help books or go to life coaches that try to sell you services to explore your vulnerabilities, and most of them don’t have either background in psychology. We should stop, breathe, listen to our bodies, and seek professional help with licensed individuals.
The power to change resides within us!
π
Hi! so I dont know if I generally disagree with this post or agree with this post.
As someone who has had anxiety and panic attacks fro m early childhood. I tend to be inspired by selfhelp books. Ofcourse I do not do something just because someone said I should do it. I first go through some critical thinking before I practice something.
Where do you draw the line of self-help? is talking to your therapist also considered negative then because a therapist is also an outside force that is wanting to make a difference in your life, ofcourse with your permission.
I have nothing against self-help books or any source of information. Whatever helps and we’re different. My opinion is the same about consultations with a therapist. For some people this works and for some it doesn’t. For me it does and I do listen to them.
The main goal of this post was to point out the importance of listening to yourself while going through other people’s advice. Like you’ve said, some critical thinking is really important.
I’m sorry if the point wasn’t as clear as it could be.
Thanks for stopping by, Mitzi. π