does not = selfish!  I would like to introduce myself….my name is Beth and I am a people pleaser as well as a workaholic.  I like to make everyone happy.  I like to get everything done ahead of a deadline.  I like to be busy honestly.  In the past though, I would take it too far and I was constantly finding myself run down and pretty useless to everybody!  I wanted to talk about this today because I have been doing some reflecting about just how I came to be on this journey to reclaim by physical and mental health.  More so, how did I let it all get so bad?!  I had let myself go in major ways and one of the reasons I think it all happened was I just wasn’t prioritizing me!

Self-care can come in may forms.  For me, working out and eating right are two of the biggest and most important these days.  Before I started down this road to reclaim my health and well-being I was full of a lot of reasons why I couldn’t do the things I knew needed to be doing to be healthy.  Otherwise put, I had a lot of excuses.  Some of them were legit, some of them not so much but at the end of the day I just wasn’t making the conscious decision to put my health first.  That all changed almost a year ago when I just got fed up with being sick and tired and feeling gross in my own skin.

I can almost remember exactly the moment when I made the decision to start taking care of myself again.  Not exactly the day or where I was or what I was wearing but more like the feeling that came over me when I knew I was done living the way I had been.  I felt mentally stronger almost instantly just having made the decision in my head to do better for myself.  After that, I started prioritizing my life just slightly differently.  I decided no more fast food.  No more, “I’m too tired” or “I don’t have the time”.  No more excuses.  And you know what….it really wasn’t all that hard!

Instead of getting pizza or Chinese for lunch because the co-workers were ordering it, I started packing my own lunch and just eating along side of them.  Instead of rushing home from work only to get back on my laptop and do more work, I carved out 30-45 minutes to workout before I even thought about answering any more emails.  If I knew I had an obligation after work like grabbing dinner with a friend, I made sure to get up a little earlier and workout in the morning or use my lunch break to get sweat session in.  In short, I found the time to take care of myself.  And you know what?  No one in my life complained or really even noticed.   Now occasionally I get made fun of because I bring these weird shakes to work everyday instead of reaching for the donuts and cookies, but hey I have thick skin and am so proud of myself for finally making better choices.

I still have all the time I used to have for my social life.  I still get all my emails answered and projects finished on time.  The only difference is I am much happier doing it all and even more productive because my energy levels are through the roof!  I don’t have to call out of work anymore because I am sick for the 4th time in the same month.  I don’t have to miss my friends birthday celebrations or a date night out because I am too run down to make it off the couch.  I am a much better version of myself than I was a year ago and it is all just because I found a little bit of time to be selfish.

Here’s to a new week of taking care of ourselves and slaying all our goals you guys!!

xoxoxo,

Beth