“Self-care is not selfish. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.” Eleanor Brownn

Too busy to have any time for yourself?

If you think don’t think you have time for you, then think of someone you love or care for, how would you treat them? Would you constantly ignore their needs or would you be attentive towards them? By the same token would you want them to take good care of themselves before taking care of you?

The love and attention you would give to someone you care deeply for is how you should be treating yourself. Start by thinking about an act of kindness you could do for just for you. It doesn’t need to cost anything but it should be something where the focus is totally on you and your needs.

Even if it’s just taking 5 minutes to enjoy a hot drink, read a book or maybe listen to music, just having that small window of time to focus on you and do something that only you want to do is as important as everything else you fill your day doing. By treating yourself with kindness you give yourself permission to be happy and to forget everything else that is going on in your life if only for a short moment in time. It’s also likely that all the people you care about would be relieved to know that you’re taking good care of yourself too.

You cannot pour from an empty vessel so give yourself time to recharge, refresh and relax so that you’ll be in a better position to give that much more to those who matter to you the most.