Do you feel guilty for taking time for yourself?
It could be guilt as a mum that you shouldn’t be having time for yourself, you should be with your children.
Maybe you’re responsible for looking after other people in the family and you don’t think you should have that time for yourself because you should be doing all those other things.
Guilt is a really strong emotion, it affects all of us and it can really hold us back particularly when it comes to taking care of ourselves.
Self-care is something that we all need to do, particularly if you’ve been struggling with symptoms of stress for a long time!
I challenge you to feel guilty for NOT taking care of yourself.
Yes you did you read that right, I did say you should feel guilty for NOT taking care of yourself.
Let me explain…
Most of us feel guilty for having time out. Time that we need to rest and recuperate, some quiet time to clear our head. But we don’t do it because:
- We feel guilty.
- We feel like we don’t deserve it.
- We don’t feel worthy of it.
These are all understandable emotions.
Personally, I feel MORE GUILTY when I’m not turning up as the BEST version of myself for my family and my children.
When I’m IRRITABLE, and I’m TIRED, and I’m GRUMPY, and I’m SNAPPY, and I say things I don’t mean and I’m NOT PRESENT, and I’m NOT LISTENING, that makes me feel GUILTY, REALLY GUILTY.
And that’s exactly why I prioritise self-care, because I know that when I have time to myself (it doesn’t have to be a massive amount of time by the way), I know that I am then in a better place to be with everybody else.
I am the best version of me, people like to be around me, I’m much more fun to be around. I’m just a nicer person and I enjoy time with others as opposed to just feeling all those other horrible feelings I felt before.
So next time you’re feeling guilty, thinking I can’t possibly take time to myself. Who am I to think I can have that time to myself?
Think about that. Think about how you currently feel and how those feelings, that knock on effect, that is having to the people around you. Because I know it will be having an effect. I work with many women that tell me that the way they feel, the way that’s making them behave has a huge impact on their family.
Comments like, everybody’s walking on eggshells. That’s just one example.
So next time you’re having that doubt about time for you, think about all that other stuff. And just think, if you just took five minutes out to sit in the quiet and breathe. That’s enough. It just gives you time to clear your head.
And that’s the thing with self care…
It’s doesn’t have to be expensive and take a long time
Self-care is about implementing lots of small things that you like, that make you feel good, that help you to relax, to calm down, to switch off.
You incorporate those throughout different points in your day to help keep you feeling calmer, happier and more relaxed. And there’s no right or wrong. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for you. By all means, try something that your friend says is really good but..
Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve tried something and it doesn’t work for you – just try something else.
Everything’s trial and error.
You don’t know until you try.
So just pick one small thing you could incorporate into your day.
Do it without feeling guilty.
See how it makes you feel over a period of time and that you show up better for everyone around you.
And I guarantee you’ll stop feeling guilty about taking that time for yourself and you’ll start to make it a priority!
Good luck!