By EDGE Woman Speaker, Professional Keynote Speaker, Communication Skills Expert and President of Unshakable Success®, Nancy Depcik
You’ve heard it over and over again:
Take care of yourself first so you will have the strength and energy to take care of others.
Books have been written, songs sung and poems read about this topic. We all know it’s important – yet so very hard to do. So, how can we learn to pamper ourselves without feeling guilty?
If you have a tendency to take care of everyone else first and put yourself last, try this:
Start small:
Take a few minutes each day for yourself.
Pick one thing you like to do. Something simple like drink a cup of coffee, read a book, listen to music. Notice that I said take “just a few minutes,” so before you start shouting: I DON’T HAVE THE TIME, think about just five minutes. That’s it – nothing more. Five minutes is long enough to hear one song or read a couple of pages or just sit quietly and do nothing.
Try it for one week.
If you feel comfortable with that, just add a couple more minutes onto your “me” time each week. If that’s too much, then scale back and add a couple of minutes each month.
The point is to carve out a little time for yourself and do something you love to do. And no, that doesn’t mean folding the laundry or planning tomorrow’s meals. This is time for you and you alone - no one else. Out of 1,440 minutes in each and every day, I bet you can find just five for yourself.
This process has helped me think of my own life as one big jig-saw puzzle. I have a vision of what I want my life to look like, yet all the missing pieces make that picture look broken and disjointed. When I take time to do the things I love, I become clearer and find more focus. Instead of seeing confusion and emptiness, I see opportunities that are sitting right there in front of me.
Make a promise to yourself right now to pick up those missing pieces of your puzzle, turn them inside out and upside down, and work with them until they fit. You don’t have to throw away the entire puzzle. You just have to look at it differently and see how you can make this year your best year ever.
Personally, I doubt my own puzzle will ever be completed - and I’ve come to accept that. My goal is to take my ever-changing life and cherish that unfinished puzzle, find the missing pieces that make it more complete, and be kind to myself, knowing I am doing the best that I can. I truly wish you all the love, happiness and success your heart can handle. After all, those are the most important pieces of all. You have the power to complete the picture that you see for your future.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to set the timer for five minutes!