Putting yourself first.
There’s so much of a stigma about this. We hear that we are selfish if we do this. We’re taught that we are supposed to be putting other’s needs before our own. Hell, we’re even taught that it’s our job to make other people happy.
I call a big BS on this.
What have you been sacrificing? What is it that you’ve been withholding from yourself because you have felt the need to put others first?
I know how it goes. You take care of everyone around you and want to make sure everyone is happy. At the end of the day, you tell yourself that you will get around to taking care of yourself, but that’s a joke. You know that you’re going to be way too exhausted and that you’ll inevitably still have items to check off your to-do list.
What do you do? You end up sacrificing your own needs and care.
You skip your morning routine in order to reply to emails. You eat a crappy lunch because you’re too busy taking care of your to do list (which, let’s be honest – is mostly someone else’s to do list). You’re not getting enough sleep. You’re definitely skipping the gym and the idea of fun is a distant memory that you fantasize about.
You’re without a doubt staying up too late working, and you feel like a prisoner to your life. You’re trapped in this cycle that’s causing misery.
You know it’s gotten really bad when you’re living your life only looking forward to the two weeks you get off for vacation this year. The other sign? When you’re tossing and turning at night you realize that in that state between sleep and consciousness, your mind is running through your to do list, your schedule, your plans, and all of the terrible things that are going to go wrong at work and in your life. Talk about a nightmare!
Why?
You’re saying YES to way too much. And you’re saying yes to things you don’t even want to just to please someone else.
This is taking a toll on your entire life. There’s a ripple effect.
What if you start saying no this week? Really lean into what’s going to serve you, and practice setting some healthy boundaries. Be intentional – why are you saying yes or no, and how is this going to serve you?
Make your “me time” non negotiable. Schedule it in. Leave your phone on silent and ignore it until you’ve tended to your own care.
What if you treat your me-time the same as you’d treat a meeting with your CEO? You should. You are the CEO of your life and you are not to be ignored.
This matters. Do it. And don’t let anyone take this from you.
The world is not going to end if you take a few hours a day for yourself. In fact, it will probably be a better world because you’re a better version of yourself this way. And those people who you’re worried about letting down? They probably won’t have a clue that you ignored your phone for a couple of hours to take care of yourself.
You got this! And – YOU DESERVE IT!