As women, we are natural born givers. We take the time to give our love, affection, energy, and attention to others. Sometimes, we tend to forget about ourselves. When we forget about ourselves, we tend to become moody, feel empty, and not like our natural self. It's very important that we take care of ourselves before we take care of others. Why? Because we cannot serve from an empty vessel. Here are five things that you can do to take care of yourself a little bit more:
Find out what makes you happy. Life is too short not to be happy. Find out what you really enjoy doing in your free time. Do you like to cook, socialize, spend quality time with family, or indulge in Netflix movies? Doing what truly makes you happy will decrease your stress levels and increase your quality of life. We never know how much something makes us happy until we incorporate it into our daily lives.
Create a schedule. We have to protect our schedules by pre-planning and getting good at time management. When we protect our schedules, we know exactly what we are doing. I schedule in everything; something as simple as grocery shopping. Creating a schedule also gives a big picture of when we have free time.
Find "me time." Having time by yourself is priceless. This is the time for you to take a bath, do yoga, or go shopping. When you have "me time," it gives you time to reboot, refresh, and recharge. In my free time, I enjoy reading a book or taking nap. I love the feeling of relaxation; this is my ultimate “me time.”
Detox from Debbie downers. Are other people draining you? Sometimes, we need to change the people we are around. Negative people can influence us unconsciously. It's so important that we separate ourself from Debbie downers. Since I know how sensitive I am, I completely avoid Debbie downers.
Withdraw from social media. Yes, take the time to take a break from social media. We are heavily influenced and distracted by social media. Sometimes, we can become addicted to looking on our social media accounts. By being addicted to social media, we waste so much valuable time. I want to challenge you to withdraw from social media for a 3-5 days and see how it feels.
When we take the time to care for ourselves, we are then able to serve and give to others. Think about it, how are you able to give some water with an empty well? It's our job and responsibility to fill up our wells with our love, attention, and self-care.
