On the airplane, we are instructed to put our oxygen mask on before we assist our child with their mask. The same is true in our daily lives. If you are not taken care of, you cannot fully care for the people in your life. You get to do that which rebuilds and restores your energy. Self-care is not only a gift to yourself, but more importantly a gift to everyone in your life. You cannot show up as your best self as a parent, partner, employee, daughter, or sister without fully being fueled and cared for.
When you first became a parent, you immediately put your focus on the needs of your child. Your infant needed your attention in order to survive. However, if even your basic needs are neglected, neither parent nor child will survive. Therefore, the needs of the parent must come FIRST in order for the rest of the family to thrive.
As mothers, we tend to care for everyone else and leave ourselves for last. Or, we do things for ourselves and feel guilty about it or do things that we think we “have” to do and therefore those actions are a burden. It's time we start telling ourselves a different story!!!
Let's go back to the oxygen mask, and acknowledging that you and your well-being are critical to your family thriving, what do you know right now are things that you want to be doing for self-care that you are not?
This can be anything from flossing to calling a friend to getting a shower each day. We say that if these things are handled, you will have more energy to be the mom, partner, employee, friend, daughter, etc. that you want to be. When things are getting stressful or out of whack, the first place to look is our self-care.
This is your opportunity to notice, hmmm, what am I doing to take care of myself and how is that impacting the way I show up in the world?
Right now (yes, like this very moment) I want you to think of just one thing that you could do each day for yourself and put it on your to-do list or calendar. Then share it with a friend, colleague or partner. Research has shown that if you say out loud and tell someone else what you intend to do, you are more likely to actually do it!
If you're not going to do this for yourself, do it for your family! They need you to.
