Selfish or Selfless?
- Clares CHAT
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
This CHOOSEDAY is inspired by a post I saw of an interview of my friend Lisa Clifford about her book launch (more on that soon!). The question was, does introspection make you selfish? Of course this sparked something and made me want to look into it further.
The definition of selfish is, according to the Oxford dictionary, “(of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.” And when you look on the Internet at the signs of being selfish, one of the first things that comes up is that a selfish person consistently puts themselves first.
But my question in return is, how is it selfish if you put yourself first? Surely we need to put ourselves first so that we can conserve our energy and direct it where we need it to go. By putting ourselves first, are we not actually being selfless as opposed to selfish? If we have, to use a very common quote, a full cup, and are able to pour from that cup to help others as well as ourselves, surely it is a selfless act to be selfish!
Delving deeper in the subject, the whole concept of selfishness actually comes from putting oneself first and having no regard for those around us. And this is where I begin to struggle. We have been sold for so long that it is wrong to put ourselves first so we very rarely do it. Just like with so many things, definitions, what society says, what we are made to believe, we have to take the parts that are positive and leave the negativity behind. Putting ourselves first but with compassion for those around us, actually creates an environment of being selfish to become selfless. And as the quote from Monday motivation this week says, if your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. So we are left with the conundrum!
Can we put ourselves first whilst having compassion for ourselves and not be called selfish?
And that one I will leave with you! 🔥🐉💚
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