Stop being a brain ninja!

You work, maybe have kids, a spouse, employees, a business, a home, cars, brothers & sisters, parents, friends and probably a few dozen other things to take care of on a regular basis. I know I do and if you're anything like me, I love to care for the people that I love. I love to see them happy and thriving in all they do.

Here's the back side of this: I forget to care for myself.

If you have ever flown, you probably remember the flight attendant telling you to put the oxygen on your own face before putting it on others. There's a deeper meaning to this in everyday life. If you don't take care of yourself first, it's impossible to continue caring for others.

Over the summer we packed up our whole life, moved our house, remodeled our basement in 30 days and moved Worx. In the mean time I was caring for everything in our "normal" life: my son and husband, empowering the Worx girls, managing clients and projects, supporting friends and family and lots of other daily tasks. But there's one thing I forgot to do. Take care of me.

As a result of that, I depleted everything I had. I ate terrible food (whatever was fast), went to bed late and got up early, stopped exercising and worst of all, gained 10lbs. Dammit.

I'm sure there has been a time in your life that you've experienced a season like this - one where you became so focused on everything else that you neglected to care for yourself. I'm here to tell you that it happens to all of us. The most important thing is to recognize when it is happening and change it. There's nothing you can do about the past so don't beat yourself up. Make the choice to change today.

And for all of you out there that think taking care of yourself is selfish... Stop being a brain ninja! I had to get over it. Those thoughts of, "how dare I go for a run instead of playing with my son," or "I'll just skip lunch today so I can get this project done" are debilitating. We create these scenarios in our heads! What if instead you said, "I'll go for a run so I have more energy to play with my son" or "If I eat a nutritious lunch I will have more creativity and energy to finish that project strong." It's all in the mindset friends. When you stop thinking that taking care of yourself is selfish and start thinking of it as a necessity, you will be able to care for everything around you better than before.

What's next? Take one step. What is the ONE thing you can do to better yourself so that you can continue to nurture those around you? That old saying "Rome wasn't built in a day" applies here too. For me, my one step is filling my body with nutrients again. I'm eating better and taking my vitamins. And no more skipping lunch. That's stupid.

I'd love to hear your promise to yourself - comment below with your one step to caring for yourself!