Who’s taking care of you?

I’ve got a little bit of tough love for you today.

No one is going to care more about you than you. It’s a fact. We have to take care of ourselves. We have to look out for ourselves. We have to make ourselves a priority!

We’ve all heard the oxygen mask analogy before – ” put on your own oxygen mask before you can help others” – but we don’t often live that way, especially mothers. We take care of our families needs before our own. We ignore things that we want to do, need to do and that must stop.

We will be better mothers, wives, partners, daughters, friends, etc if we put ourselves first.

We will be better versions of ourselves if we:

• rest when we’re sick
• see the doctor when it’s necessary
• speak up when something is bothering us
• exercise
• get that haircut
• take a mental health day
• splurge on the occasional massage or pedicure (or whatever strikes your fancy)
• learn something new

Think of it this way – would you ever NOT take your child to the doctor? Of course not. So why do we feel it’s okay to skip out on things that we need? Why do we put things off that we might nag other friends and family members to do?

No one else can take responsibility for this. This is all us, all the time.

So today, I want you to go out and do one of these three things. Heck, I dare you to do all three.

1. Make a doctor appointment if it’s been a few years since you’ve been – family practitioner, gynecologist, psychologist – doesn’t matter.
2. Call (gasp!) or text a friend. It’s amazing how good interaction with other people can make us feel.
3. Take 10 minutes and give yourself a mental break – that might mean going for a quick walk around your neighborhood, or sipping tea quietly on the back porch. It might mean going in your room, shutting the door and just breathing for ten minutes. It might mean staying in the shower for an extra five minutes – but TAKE THAT BREAK JUST FOR YOU.

What do you say? Challenge accepted?