How much do you care for yourself? Do you honestly pay specific attention to your needs, wants, wishes, desires, health, security, safety, mental health…and so on?)
Not many of us ‘think’ about ourselves, let alone, take care of ourselves or show ourselves the self care we deserve.
Why? Well, it’s perhaps seen as being too ‘voyeuristic’ or felt as though it’s ‘selfish’ or the belief that ‘others come first’.
Think for a minute of all the roles you play in your life…in fact, if you have the time write them down. At first you may assume there’s just a couple…you know, the obvious ones…partner, parent, employee.
Yet, look deeper, I’ll bet you have many more.
Go through every area of your life, create a list. You could be a friend, daughter, sister, lover, confidant, listener, fixer, doer, cleaner, cook, home banker, disciplinarian, negotiator, compromiser, pacifier, spirit, shopper, writer…
And this huge list may come with a few problems.
Why?
Because each role requires you to play different parts: with different lines, different feelings, different expectations.
An excellent ‘caretaker’ of a building, carries out all the duties required of them AND at the same notices when cracks and leaks appear…they are able to identify a potential problem before it becomes a hazard!
Someone who is excellent at taking care of themselves carries out all the ‘duties and roles’ expected of them AND they are able to acknowledge how they are feeling and when they need to say ‘I need to stop and take time out for a while’. Others just keep going and going, not coming up for air, until eventually, one day, they are overwhelmed at how tired they are.
With the amount of roles you play:
- Have you ever been depleted of all your energy?
- Have you ever felt emotionally drained (having no more to give people?)
- Have you ever felt confused about what you should be doing?
- Have you ever felt that you are spreading yourself ‘too thin’?
- Have you ever just wanted to be ‘you’ without the pressures of other roles?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions…this is perhaps a sign that you need to take care of the caretaker…YOU!
How though…how can you take care of you with so many roles and those expecations placed upon you?
Are you sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t have the time to take care of me…I’ve too much to do everyday’?
Ah…that’s the key, you make the conscious choice to make the time.
If the caretaker were to take a few weeks off, I guarantee that what they ‘care’ for will be lost without them, things will just not get done!
How do you take care of the caretaker?
Okay…one question…are you ready?
Ask yourself…
‘What do I need, right now, at this moment?’
That’s it?
Yep…simple huh? (And you thought I was going to say relax and have a bath:)
It’s perhaps not a question that serves life’s bigger goals…it’s meant for the here and now, the moment, the second in question. And it’s a question that only you can answer.
We can get caught up on the planning, the future, the BIG goals that sometimes it’s the present that’s just as important, don’t you agree?
So, what do you need, right now at this moment? GO and do it then!
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