When The New Year Self-improvement push does harm
Interesting survey results from an article in a Georgia newspaper:
The findings reveal that for a significant portion of the population, New Year goals create stress, guilt, and overwhelm instead of inspiration. In fact, 21% of adults say January self-improvement culture actively harms their mental health – the equivalent of more than 56 million Americans starting the year feeling worse, not better.
The self-help hustle trend online is actively harming people. It sends an explicit message that we are never enough. The constant pressure to live our best lives and be our best selves every day is not realistic. It’s also not sustainable.
The world most people live in doesn’t afford them the time or money to keep up with all the self-improvement trends. Why would we shame them for doing what they can within the limitations they live with?
Seriously, don’t talk about how beneficial a week-long health retreat is to people who can’t afford to miss a sick day of work.
I make consistent efforts to improve myself, but if it ever gets to the point where I’m just beating myself up over all the things I can’t do, that’s worse than doing nothing, frankly.
Why would we do that to people?
