BE SELFISH!

My life is literally constrained by the hands of time. Every minute counts. If I am doing one task, I am thinking of the next task or wondering if there is a more important task that I could be doing. Living that way is very, VERY stressful and I am finally learning how to slow down and find balance. Even though I am a mother and wife, I am still Kels! We are three months into the new year and I am proud to say that I am adhering to my vision board that I created in January at a yoga session hosted by Yoga Noir.

I used to visit the city where I grew almost every weekend and doing so caused me to miss out on awesome events that the kids or my family could have enjoyed in our own city. I have cut down on the number of visits home and doing so has allowed me to reconnect with a great group of people and attend cool events that I otherwise would have missed out on. I am eating better and trying different recipes that are not in my “comfort zone” and to quote little Olivia Kendall from The Cosby Show “I’m Still Alive”!

I am paying more attention to me and it’s not as scary as I thought it would be! We have been conditioned as children to believe that being selfish is a bad thing, when really in some cases it’s healthy. I thought being selfish could harm my marriage or cause my children to miss out on things that they needed, but NOPE! My children are happy and my husband is not only happy; he is happy that I’m happy. He’s happy -and maybe even a little jealous- when he sees me primping and prepping for girls night out or prancing out the door to go exercise in my cute gym attire 😊 The next time you take a trip via airplane and the flight attendant steps up to give the passengers safety instructions, instead of putting on your sleep mask, putting your earbuds in or burying your head in a book, pay attention to what they are instructing you to do:

“In the event of a decompression, an oxygen mask will appear in front of you…if you are traveling with a child or someone who requires assistance, SECURE YOUR MASK FIRST, AND THEN ASSIST THE OTHER PERSON.”

Did you catch that?! Now let’s apply that to this thing called “Life”. You cannot help anyone along unless you are physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually in a good place! This message not only applies to parents or individuals with spouses, but also those who are standing in as a parent or those taking care of their parents or elders. BE SELFISH! TAKE CARE OF YOU FIRST!