NOTE: This is the first of a three-part series on the importance of self-care and easy steps to make it happen.  Read part 2 here.  Read part 3 here.   

Do you ever feel like you’re running in 101 different directions?  Are you busy taking care of everyone and everything else, leaving you exhausted and running on fumes?  Have you reached a state of burnout?

How are we supposed to properly care for others, if we are running ourselves ragged?

Let me ask you a question?  What happens if you do crash and burn?  I’m talking about getting physically sick or having a mini or even a major emotional breakdown.

One of two things will likely happen:

1. Things in your life will fall apart and some of the pieces will be picked up in the interim, while others will be waiting for you to rise from your “sick” bed so you can pick up those pieces left lying around and get back on the crazy merry-go-round you’ve been on. Spoiler alert: This is an unhealthy pattern that needs to change!
2. People in your life will step in and help out. Some of the responsibilities you’ve been shouldering will fall to others temporarily.  Others will fall away completely…right into the lap of the person who should have been handling that responsibility in the first place (spouse, kid, needy friend, fellow committee member, co-worker, etc.)

What I’d like to propose, since we can’t manufacture 10 more hours in a day, clone ourselves, or add an extra set of hands to our bodies, is that we focus on taking better care of ourselves, so we can better care for those around us.

Whether you have kids at home, you’re taking care of elderly parents while holding down a full-time job, or you’re somewhere in between–life can be crazy busy.  Setting aside time to care for yourself is critically important to your physical and emotional well-being.

A reader commented on last week’s video post about overcoming obstacles, on our tendency to show more compassion to others than we do to ourselves.  This is so true!  Don’t you think you and I need to show the kindness and compassion for ourselves that we show to our most precious family members and friends?

I’ve got a simple and fun exercise I’d like you to complete today.

Before we begin, let’s get you in the right frame of mind.

Please, please, please…

Give yourself permission to care for yourself.  Remember the reader comment I mentioned earlier about how we show more compassion towards others than we grant ourselves?  Imagine you had a friend that was burning the candle on both ends and about to collapse.  Would you tell them to buck up and get their lazy butt moving?  No, you would likely insist they immediately either take a couple days off, get a massage, put their duties aside and take some long walks, head to the nearest bed and breakfast to hide out for 24 hours, or a combination of all of these.  You get the point…we would wisely urge them to do what it takes to take care of themselves.  I encourage you to give yourself the same caring advice next time you are running ragged.

Ok! Let’s get started on this fun exercise to see how you can best care for yourself immediately and in the future:

I recommend you keep this list in a journal or notebook that you can refer back to in the future.  How about keeping a running list of dates and self-care activities too!  Click here to download a free printable worksheet to complete this exercise.

Step 1: Write down three to five extravagant (to you) things that you would love to treat yourself to (if only you had the time and money).  Think BIG here.  Pretend that money is no object.

Step 2: Now, write down three to five things that you would love to do if you had an entire 24-hours free, but you weren’t allowed to go more than 15 miles from your home.

Step 3: Last, but not least, write down three to five things that you would love to do if you had an entire 24-hours free, but you couldn’t leave your home.

Now, take a look at the last “home” list and circle your top pick from the list.  Do the same with the two other lists.

Get your calendar out and schedule, in pen, that one thing from your “home” and “15-mile” lists.

Here’s the hard part…make sure you don’t allow yourself to knock the activity or non-activity you’ve scheduled from your list.  You don’t cancel your yearly physical at the doctor’s office, do you?

You’re probably wondering about what you’re supposed to do with the first “extravagant” list.  That list is to keep you dreaming big and setting high goals for yourself.  Take your top pick from that list and figure out how to make it happen…even if it’s 3 years in the future.

Please don’t see this as a one-time exercise.  If you start regularly scheduling these types of things for yourself, you will see a huge improvement in your life.

Enjoy the special time you’ve got planned!

As always, thanks for spending time with me here today.  I would love to hear some of the things you will be scheduling in.  Please let me know in the comment area below.

Guess what?  I’m taking some of my own advice and am headed out this weekend for some rest and relaxation at a cabin in the woods with some girlfriends.

Thanks and have a great day!

Jill xx

Don’t forget to click here to download the free printable worksheet I created for you to complete the exercise we’ve talked about today.

NOTE: This is the first of a three-part series on the importance of self-care and easy steps to make it happen.