Do you feel selfish if you take time to nurture yourself? I find that most moms do feel selfish taking time out to refuel themselves, I know that I do. If you struggle with this please follow along.
I am sitting on my bed with an age-defying face mask on my face and neck waiting for the 45 minutes to be up. I’m struggling with taking the time to “sit” here and pamper myself.
Let’s analyze why I might be struggling with taking time for just me. Do I feel selfish? Maybe a little bit, but life has been crazy busy lately and I’ve had very little “me” time, so there is no “real” reason for me to feel guilty at all. Does it feel hard because I’m not used to doing something for me? It does feel a little frivolous.
Does nurturing myself feel weird because it’s unfamiliar to me?
Have I picked up the lie somewhere along the way that it is wrong for me to nurture myself?
I remember about 15 years ago, I had a friend pull me aside and tell me that I needed to start taking some time for myself or I was going to be blowing out my thyroid. I laughed. How do I do that with 6 kids ranging from 22-2? I was homeschooling and I had 2-year-old twin boys who were rocking my world. My life was a zoo!!!! Start taking some me time?? Hahaha!!!!!
Fast forward 15 years and guess what? I am on thyroid meds. I wish I would’ve listened to her wise advice back then. Ladies listen to me. If we don’t take the time for self-care, our bodies will demand that we take the time. It is NOT selfish for us to take time out for ourselves.
If I’m completely honest I’m still not where I need to be. In fact, I just had another good friend a couple weeks ago pull me aside and tell me I needed some serious downtime in my life and I better start taking it. I’m listening. I want to grow in this, so how do I create new habits and find the time?
I shared last week 30 Simple Self-Care Ideas. Most of these things can be done in only 15 minutes. It’s a lie that we need huge amounts of time daily. I have worked hard this week on doing something each day.
TRUTH: We WILL find time for anything we feel is a priority.
TRUTH: If we don’t take care of our mind, body, and soul we will end up burnt out and in poor health. It is NOT selfish for us to spend time taking time on ourselves. God didn’t create us to go, go, go continually!
Will you join me in taking 15 minutes each day to fill yourself back up? Please see the following post on 30 simple things you can do to take of YOU!
Do you feel it’s selfish to take the time to nurture yourself? Please leave a comment letting me know your thoughts.
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I totally agree, Barb, rest and taking that time out to recharge our batteries is so vital for us – and usually everyone we live with. 😉 Thanks for the reminder and encouragement today.
Thanks for stopping by Tiffany and YES it definitely benefits those we live with. 🙂 Have a great day.
I am with you so much on how hard it is to take time for ourselves. I’m trying to be more intentional with that. Thanks for sharing your experience with us at Merry Monday this week. I’m glad that you are trying to start taking time for yourself.
Yes I totally agree. Having ‘me time’ is healthy and good for our well being. Taking the time out to do something just for yourself isn’t selfish but it will have a positive affect on you and your family.
I know that feeling too well, Barb! I’m not sure if it’s because I feel “selfish” for pampering myself, or just because I’m so used to be busy all the time that it just feels weird to sit there and do nothing but “enjoy” myself. Sometimes, if I neglected my own well-being for too long (such as at the moment due to writing my master thesis for the past couple of months), it’s really hard for me to even allow myself to enjoy doing nothing – because the thought of “you have to do something! something productive! get that master thesis done already!” is so deeply ingrained in my mind. Crazy, eh? But I definitely try to take some time for myself every now and then – even if it’s just a couple of minutes every morning and every night!
Have a lovely day!
*Maisy
Thanks Maisy for stopping by to comment and congrats on all your writing! Something great will be at the end of all that craziness. I so agree that when we have periods of go, go, go we just don’t know how to let ourselves rest well. May we both strive to continue to get better in this area. Have a GREAT weekend that I hope includes some down time. 🙂
A long time ago I used to feel selfish about “me time” but not anymore. My mom was actually the one that said if I keep on emptying my jug of giving there won’t be anything left. And the only way to fill it again is to take the time to do something just for you.. So go ahead and spoil yourself Barb so your jug can fill up again
Michelle, Thanks so much for stopping by and giving me permission to fill my jug! 🙂 Sometimes we need that. Have a wonderful weekend and again thanks!