SelfWork YGTG: When Too Much Self-Help Is... Too Much
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2022
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's YGTG (You Get the Gist) is focused on self-help; can you seek out too much help? The answer is yes. Self-help can actually make some people feel inferior and ashamed, rather than better about themselves - especially if you inundate yourself with it, or are almost addicted to seeking out articles and TikTok's and Instagram reels. And... podcasts.
Even though I'm one of those people who are trying to offer my experience as a psychologist, I've often suggested to people that they need to stop looking outside of themselves for answers or waiting for just one more piece of information before they act. You can get into analysis paralysis - and time passes, and passes, and passes. And you do nothing - because you're so afraid of making a mistake.
So... if it will be helpful - truly helpful - please listen in to the wisdom of Mel Robbins and Mark Manson. But know you and only you can learn to trust yourself.
Vital Links:
Mel Robbins' five-second rule.
Great article by Mark Manson on the one thing that self-help cannot help you do.
You can hear more about this and many other topics by listening to my podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to my website and receive my weekly newsletter including a blog post and podcast! If you’d like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome!
My book entitled Perfectly Hidden Depression has been published and you can order here! Its message is specifically for those with a struggle with strong perfectionism which acts to mask underlying emotional pain. But the many self-help techniques described can be used by everyone who chooses to begin to address emotions long hidden away that are clouding and sabotaging your current life. And it’s available in paperback, eBook or as an audiobook!
And there’s another way to send me a message! You can record by clicking below and ask your question or make a comment. You’ll have 90 seconds to do so and that time goes quickly. By recording, you’re giving SelfWork (and me) permission to use your voice on the podcast. I’ll look forward to hearing from you!
Our Sponsors: * Check out BetterHelp and use my code betterhelp.com for a great deal: https://www.betterhelp.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to self-work. I'm Dr. Margaret Rutherford. I'm a clinical psychologist |
| 0:11.4 | and this is this month's YGTG or you get the gist and it's all about the damages that |
| 0:19.4 | self-help can do, just a quick bit of information for you. I got on Instagram the other day and |
| 0:26.0 | briefly look through my feed. Probably because of what I tend to look at and like is mental health |
| 0:31.4 | stuff. What I've viewed were posts from mental health gurus and don't get me wrong. Their |
| 0:36.4 | advice is often practical and contains helpful morsels of their experience as clinicians and |
| 0:42.1 | just people. But you can inundate yourself with reels and memes and stories and TikToks so much |
| 0:50.3 | so that you don't know which piece of anxiety-reducing advice to follow first or certainly not which one |
| 0:58.1 | is the best. That in and of itself is anxiety-provoking. Do you meditate and do the best you can which |
| 1:05.7 | some people say except where you are or I just read a new article about how meditating the wrong |
| 1:12.0 | way can be detrimental? Which one are you supposed to do? Which new book would be the best for you to |
| 1:17.3 | pour over? Which workbook will lead to some kind of divine like inspiration or drive? I've had to |
| 1:25.0 | smile when I thought of the very well-known and very well-respected Mel Robbins new book. It's based on |
| 1:31.8 | getting up and facing your mirror and giving yourself a high five. Bam! Now I'm sure there's more to |
| 1:37.7 | her book than that and I know many follow her devotedly and it is true that often we look over the |
| 1:44.2 | simplest ideas to help as if simple is not as helpful as complex. So there you go slap that |
| 1:51.8 | mirror and start your day more positively than if you were looking in the mirror and thinking how |
| 1:56.7 | you look like hell. How can I criticize self-help when I myself have this podcast and I've written a |
| 2:03.0 | book? So do I need to admit that my own offerings are part of the confusion? How can I give advice |
| 2:09.4 | that says to stop the fervent search for the perfect advice when I'm also giving advice? |
| 2:15.4 | It sounds a tad bit hypocritical to me but at least I'm admitting it. What I think is a wrong |
| 2:22.0 | direction or an unhealthy direction to go is to search for that one thing you need to hear one more |
... |
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