Self-care is a proven practice for rebuilding your strength and resilience after experiencing sexual violence. However, misinformation around self-care can hinder your recovery.
Here, we’ll tackle some common self-care myths so you can live the life you deserve.
1. Truth: Self-Care Is a Survival Skill
Today’s $10 billion wellness industry has convinced many of us that self-care is a commodity—something you have to buy. Companies market their wellness products and programs as the ultimate self-care solutions, but this narrow approach to self-care excludes anyone without the means to participate.
True self-care is not a luxury item; it’s a survival skill.
Practice self-care that supports your physical, mental, and emotional well-being, and ignore anyone who tells you that healing requires a credit card.
2. Truth: Self-Care Is Rooted in Resistance
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, young changemakers redefined self-care as a kind of existential strength training that enabled them to resist oppressive norms and work toward a better world for everyone.
Self-care cannot undo what was done to you or erase your visible and invisible scars. But, by practicing daily self-care, you can resist and overcome the harms perpetuated by abuse and assault.
Living a life steeped in self-care may be the ultimate “eff you” to the sexual violence that tried to bury your light.
3. Truth: Self-Care Is Not Selfish
If you’ve ever flown on a plane, you’ve heard the advice to “put on your own oxygen mask before helping others.” As an analogy, this holds particularly true for survivors of sexual trauma. It takes strength to care for others, but if you haven’t secured your own oxygen mask, you’ll be sapped of strength in no time.
By caring for your own well-being, you restore the strength you need to care for others: your family, your friends, your community, and beyond. And caring for others is definitively unselfish.
- Eating nutritious food is not selfish.
- Exercising your body is not selfish.
- Brushing your teeth and hair: not selfish.
- Saying “no” to an opportunity that overwhelms you: not selfish.
- Sleep and rest: not selfish.
- Doing something just for fun: not selfish.
- Holding firm boundaries: not selfish.
You deserve to live a life that fulfills you. Self-care carves the building blocks you need to build that life.
Start with Self-Care
Showing up as your best self requires lifelong self-care.
At RAINN, we believe in self-care for everyone—because self-care isn’t about retreating from the world; it’s about preparing to reenter it stronger.
Medical Disclaimer: Please note that the content on this site does not constitute medical advice, and RAINN is not a medical expert. If you have further questions after reading this information, please contact a local healthcare professional or hospital.
Last updated: July 10, 2025