So this week I was interviewed by Deb Sturgess of Create Your Now virtual conference on the subject of ‘setting yourself up for success’ – it was fabulous! We had such a laugh, and I enjoyed converting another group of people to the virtues of treasuring yourself. Today’s article explores this a little more, but if you really want to get into it, get my free ebook “The First Step to a Joyful Life” by Joining my mailing list. If you are on my mailing list already, this will have been sent to you when you joined (if you’ve lost it, drop me an e-mail and I’ll resend it for you.
– Setting Yourself Up For Success –
I have noticed that for every one of my clients, if their self-care and energy is weak, their life is harder and their goals more difficult to achieve! If they feel cared for and energised, many of the seeming problems disappear! Life is easier, more fun, doors seem to open with greater regularity and ease…and they FEEL GOOD! This is what I think setting yourself up for success is about – taking the best care of yourself you can so you FEEL GOOD!
Some people object to this because it’s ‘selfish’, but keeping your one and only body, mind, heart and soul running efficiently is not selfish, it is necessary. Do you consider your car selfish for requiring petrol and oil and water to run efficiently? Do you ask your car to run on empty and consider it self-indulgent if it just stops running when it runs out of fuel? No, of course not. It’s ridiculous.
And when you are full up, when you are taken care of and energised, you have more to give. And when you are overflowing, you can overflow onto others, and you can give them more. Imagine this: you have kids, partners, parents, friends and colleagues who all need something from you. And you are only 50% full up. Your kids need 20% of that so you’re down to 30%. Your spouse needs 15%, you’re down to 15.
Your family needs you, and they take that last 15%…and they still want more. In the meantime your best friend is really sick and needs you…but you have nothing left to give. You are now feeling depleted and worn out yourself and you need help from those around you – who are in the same position as you, they have nothing to give! If you are full in the first place, you can give to your children, spouse, family and friends and still feel good.
Especially if you are refilling as you go along. So let’s look at another example. Let’s say you are overflowing, feeling wonderful – you’re at about 200%. As in the example before, you give 20% to your kids, 15% to your spouse, 15-20% to your family, 20% to your best friend…and even if you don’t fill up anymore, you still have 125% to give! The quality of the care and attention you can give is better – you’re not giving the people in your life the dregs of yourself.
And you feel good. So is that really selfish? I don’t think so. I personally think it is more selfish to do it the other way, because you are not able to give as much or as high quality. You are also teaching the people around you that you are worthy…and that they are worthy too. If you can take care of yourself, you give your loved ones permission to take care of themselves too. What could be less selfish?
– Something to Play With –
Are you setting yourself up for success by taking the best possible care of yourself you can? Are you feeling cared for right now? If the answer is no, what can you do right now to care for yourself? Go do it. Want to share your thoughts on this article? Leave me a comment below. Or pop over to my facebook page and leave a comment there.
Love
Donna.x