I want to talk about the rule on every airplane…you know the one about breathing masks….“secure your own before helping the people around you.” If you aren’t breathing, you aren’t much help, same goes for being mentally healthy or generally exhausted.
So turns out, you can’t be everything to everyone, you can’t do everything by yourself, and that’s okay. But to some of us (that’s me speaking with wishful thinking, because it might be just me) we want to be everything and do everything….but I’ll let you all in on a little secret….eventually…..it starts to eat away at you.
Today sucked (that’s a PreK swear word, but I’m going to use it.)
I was burning the candle at both ends all day, it started when I tried to ignore anxiety symptoms in the morning I brushed them off and boy did they come back with a vengeance.
Work was a Murphy’s law situation (everything that can go wrong will) and then I came home to be frustrated that I had to cook dinner. So now that I’m in the bubble bath reflecting on my “bad day” here’s what I know:
1. My anxiety was not that bad this morning, but had I acknowledged and respected my feelings before ignoring them, I could have resolved things. But instead I shoved it down to run around and take care of a problem that was not my own.
2. Yes, A TON went wrong at school today but i has MANY coworkers offer to help that I brushed off or told them I was fine and didn’t need it.
3. I was there for my babes, but I did not need to be everywhere and everything for each and everyone of them when there were many moments that I could have fostered their independence and encouraged their discovery of feelings and thoughts.
4. My fiancé offered 55 times to make dinner, everytime I blew it off and mumbled something about it being “my job.”
And now, here I sit, Justin very kindly kissed me, and told me to channel everything to a blog post from the bathtub (whether this was because he was annoyed with me or because he was being sweet…I won’t speculate)
Either way this is a consistent lesson for me.
I don’t have to chip away at pieces of myself to make everything look good or to solve the worlds problems…and neither do you!
Make time for you, help others of course, but don’t let that overshadow self care.
We can’t change the world if we don’t start with our own hearts and minds.
You matter, your care matters, so take it! It’s not a weakness it’s a strength, and such an incredible blessing to be surrounded by people who can help and want to.
Make time for you because you are doing great things ❤️
Healing through Growth 