Why Self-Care isn't Selfish

Have you ever considered some self-care and then decided against it because you felt you were being selfish? If you said no, I don't believe you. Almost all of us do this... We consider doing something for ourselves then quickly come up with a million reasons we shouldn't do it. Now I want you to think of it another way.

Have you ever heard someone else talk about their self-care routine? What was your first thought? If your first thought was 'wow, how selfish', I think you're lying. More likely your first thought was something like, 'ah that sounds so nice', or 'gosh, I wish I had the time for that'. I'll let you in on a little secret, you DO have time for that.

There's a specific metaphor that I absolutely love when it comes to ourselves, and that's this idea that we have our own cup, or bucket, that is constantly being filled up and poured out. So imagine this, you have a cup, it represents you. Each time you do something for yourself that brings you joy or gives you energy you fill up the cup. Then each time you do something that doesn't serve you, you lose some of what's inside your cup. Now imagine spending all of your time doing for others and rarely spend anytime filling up your own cup. At a point you start running on empty.

This is why self-care isn't selfish. If you're not filling up your own cup, how can you let some of it drain when you're there for others? You can't. Self-care is important not only in that you are showing up for yourself, but by showing up for yourself, you can more effectively show up for others when the time comes.

I challenge everyone reading this to spend 20-30 minutes today doing some form of self-care. This could be reading a book, taking a bath, meal prepping for your week, whatever, just make sure it's productive and serving YOU. Today I have committed to journaling. What will you do for you today?