State Your Belief

I believe it is okay to put yourself first.

One of my friends asked a question on Facebook a couple of weeks ago “What is more important to you than your health?”  She is the owner of a cross fit gym and was trying to make a point with her question. There were several responses and most of the answers were my family and kids.  There were also some not so serious answers like cookies and ice cream.  

This question and the responses that were given really got me thinking because I too said my family.  How am I supposed to take care of the people that mean the most to me if I’m not taking care of myself first?  It is hard for me to think of myself before others, especially my family.  I finally realized and believe that it is important to find that balance between taking care of others and caring for myself.

Even the safety videos on the airlines tell you that “before you assist others, always put your oxygen mask on first”.  I don’t know why this wasn’t clear to me then, but I have actually experienced this first hand.  When my family and I were going on vacation, we actually lost cabin pressure and the oxygen masks came down.  I did as was instructed; put mine on before assisting my children.  I think that was one of the few times I put myself first.  I know this may be a stretch but if I tried to put their mask on first I may not have been able to put my own mask on.  I am learning that this concept is becoming more important to me.

I used to be in excellent shape, eating right and exercising on a regular basis.  Since getting married and having kids, however, it seems that every year that passes I focus less and less on myself and focus more of my time and energy on them.  I don’t eat as well as I used to, I am more stressed out, and I often go to bed exhausted usually without checking off the things I wanted to get done that day.  The saying “I don’t have the time” became the norm when it came to wanting to participate in the activities that are enjoyable to me.  I have high blood pressure for the first time in my life and it is scary because it runs in my family as well as other major health problems.  I realized if I don’t start caring for myself, I might not be around long to be able to take care of my family.  So I am making the effort to hitting the gym more and taking time to meal prep, which otherwise would have been spent on doing something for the family.  I still think of this as helping my family because I believe when I am at my best I am better able to take care of them.