I was selected to answer another Life Well Lived Getting Happy question. The question is:
How do you put yourself first? How does taking time for yourself help make you happier?
I think as a Mom the whole concept of putting myself first was a hard one to grasp. I think so often we are made to feel guilty or selfish if we put ourselves first. The fact of the matter is we often need to, it's really the only way to stay sane.
My dear friend Elizabeth Lyons said it best when she said, "What do you do when your car is on E? You go to the gas station and fill up, right? So what do you do when you are running on E? You need to fill up on whatever it is that makes you happy."
I think that statement says it all. If we are putting everyone else first and not taking any time for ourselves unhappiness/resentment is sure to follow. The thing is, what you do does not have to be some big extravagant thing. I'm not saying make a daily spa appointment or anything like that. What I'm saying is, do something that makes you happy and do it alone. It can be something as simple as taking a bubble bath at the end of the night, or going for a pedicure. Sometimes, for me, it's going to the grocery store sans kids. Seriously, it's like a vacation.
I'm going to leave you with one last quote, and it's one my very Southern husband says all the time, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy".
Be sure to check out all the other Life Well Lived Getting Happy discussions over at BlogHer and while you're there enter the Live Well Lived Sweepstakes!
How do you put yourself first? How does taking time for yourself help make you happier?
I think as a Mom the whole concept of putting myself first was a hard one to grasp. I think so often we are made to feel guilty or selfish if we put ourselves first. The fact of the matter is we often need to, it's really the only way to stay sane.
My dear friend Elizabeth Lyons said it best when she said, "What do you do when your car is on E? You go to the gas station and fill up, right? So what do you do when you are running on E? You need to fill up on whatever it is that makes you happy."
I think that statement says it all. If we are putting everyone else first and not taking any time for ourselves unhappiness/resentment is sure to follow. The thing is, what you do does not have to be some big extravagant thing. I'm not saying make a daily spa appointment or anything like that. What I'm saying is, do something that makes you happy and do it alone. It can be something as simple as taking a bubble bath at the end of the night, or going for a pedicure. Sometimes, for me, it's going to the grocery store sans kids. Seriously, it's like a vacation.
I'm going to leave you with one last quote, and it's one my very Southern husband says all the time, "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy".
Be sure to check out all the other Life Well Lived Getting Happy discussions over at BlogHer and while you're there enter the Live Well Lived Sweepstakes!
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1 comment:
So Southern but so True! : ) PJ says it all the time too.
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