Practising Self-Compassion or Being Lazy? Here’s the Difference

Are you practising self-compassion or being lazy? It can be difficult to tell the difference, especially for those who struggle with self-criticism and shame. But being able to distinguish self-compassion from laziness can be vital to our mental health. Mitsu’s clinical psychologist Raksha Rajesh breaks it all down in the video below.

It’s laziness if you have the energy and resources to do a task, but you choose not to. Whereas, when we talk about self compassion, it is about giving yourself the permission to step back and analyse whether you have the energy and the resources to do a task. It is just not about taking care of yourself but also understanding your limits — whether you have those resources to complete a task. In fact, research shows that practising self-compassion makes us more motivated and capable — almost the opposite of laziness.

So in simple ways, if you want to check if you’re practising self-compassion or being lazy, you can ask yourself: Am I genuinely tired and not having resources to complete a task? or am I just putting it off for the sake of it?

If you answer yes to the first question, you’re probably practising self-compassion. If you answer yes to the second question, then I think you’re probably leaning towards laziness.

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Read more related articles:

• Can You Be Too Hard on Yourself? (Mitsu)
• Feeling Bad About Yourself? Try Self-Kindness to Feel Better (Mitsu)
• Rethinking Laziness (Psychology Today)
• Self-Compassion: The Most Important Life Skill? (LiveScience)

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Raksha Rajesh (M.Sc., M.Phil., CRR No. A80195) is a clinical psychologist licensed by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI). She has 5+ years of experience in helping people from diverse backgrounds build skills to understand and manage their emotions.