For Me?

When is the last time you did something for you? Think about it; but if you have to think about it too hard then it already proves my point. At some point in our lives with jobs, relationships and children we stop doing things just for us. Not to say that the things we do for others doesn’t bring us joy or when someone does something for us it feels great, but there is something about taking time for you and just spoiling yourself.

 When I was in my very early twenties I lived in Toronto and worked as a bartender. With no responsibilities to anyone else but me, I had a lot of me days. Went shopping if I felt like I wanted to, spent 100-300$ on my hair a month and ate out at restaurants more then I cooked. I slept in, worked as little or as much as I wanted and pampered myself daily.

 It seems like that life is a million years away. Adding wife, dog mommy, homeowner, responsible employee, good friend, active family member etc… etc… to my list of roles you start to lose the me love role a little bit. All of our roles are important and help make us who we are, but we have to remember ALL the roles are important.

 If we cannot take care of ourselves every once in a while then how can we be expected to take of everybody and everything else. I have found from chatting with friends and family that that very issue comes up and can cause hardships in relationships. We start to expect that other people should be filling that void, since we are no longer, but is that fair? If we cannot take the time for us, if we don’t think we are important enough for the time, can we really get mad at others for not filling that space?

 Now I am not saying to drop all responsibilities and have a weeklong you-appaloosa, which would just be crazy. What I am saying is that we need to put ourselves on our list of important people. We need to listen to what we need.

 So try and work in a little you time into your schedule, it doesn’t need to be large quantities of time for it to be effective. Stay in your pj’s a little longer then you normally would, instead of rushing to look perfect. Take your vacation days, you earned them, work a little bit of you money into your monthly budget, take a bath instead of a shower, read a good book or go for a walk all by your lonesome and actually listen to your thoughts and enjoy the scenery.

 What I have learnt is that by ignoring the me role can take its toll on you and affect other aspects of your life. So maybe, just maybe, taking time for you will give you more energy and a better outlook for the other aspects in your life. Go ahead and pamper yourself! 

Lotsa Love,

Natasha