Selfishness Rebranded (a poem)

“What we need right now is more women who are full of themselves.”
-Glennon Doyle (this quote makes me cringe )

“Live for your own dreams!”
“Follow your own heart!”
“Do it for yourself!”
Ugh, where do I start?

All this self-empowerment
We’ve heard it all before
And no it isn’t always bad
But maybe there is more

Never in our history
Have we been so obsessed
With our own comfort & well-being
Doing what feels best

I won’t win any friends for saying
This and being candid:
It’s narcissism renamed & it’s
Selfishness rebranded

And all these self-help influencers
Tell us “you’re enough!”
And then in the next sentence
They’re like “you should buy my stuff!”
This “find yourself” on steroids
Is not always fulfilling
While those who seek to serve another
Find more joy in living

While Christ, the master teacher
Has said “deny yourself”
Stop the toxic self-worship
Live for someone else

“What if the problem is not that we don’t think of ourselves enough? What if the problem is that we think of ourselves way too much?” -Allie Beth Stuckey

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” -Matthew 16:24-25