Beautiful You: Nurturing yourself

"I've got to get it together, or we're all going to fall apart."

I can't tell you how many times I've said this to myself over the past year.

Truth is, I CAN'T do it all.  

It should be a relief just to let myself rest in that fact, and it partially is but there is more to it than 

that because I will inevitably end up trying to do it all again.

Something needs to change...and odds are it will be more than one thing.

I've been seeing all the New Year resolutions going around and feeling sorta guilty about mine,

but I've decided to stop that :)  Who needs another guilt trip anyway?

I need to take care of myself.

I want to take care of myself.

I will take care of myself.

As women we tend put pressure on ourselves to make sure everyone's needs are met.  I'm not saying to abandon taking care of others, we just can't forget to take care of ourselves in the process.

And that's exactly what I have done.  Forgotten me.  Have you forgotten you too?

"Women are usually taught from an early age about the importance of nurturing and taking care of others. Mothers generally focus on meeting the needs of the children, husband, and household before addressing their needs. Simultaneously, society and the media send women the message that they must be perfect. They are given the message they need to be thin, beautiful, young, perfectly dressed, and in all ways flawless."

It became very clear over the past few months that my body has been telling me 

that this is all too much (physically and emotionally), but I wasn't listening.  I just kept pushing through. What happens is that level of pain/discomfort becomes your new "normal" and you will operate in that condition until it becomes worse and then the cycle of pushing through will start all over again, and the new level becomes your new "normal"....again.

Enough.

We are important too.
We will better be able to serve others if we are cared for.

"As parents, we get caught up in the family fast track. We are consumed by school, homework, little league, karate, dance class, and on and on. There is little time left to focus on self-care. Parents get caught in this cycle and neglect relationship building needs. There is little or no attention given to meet their own personal physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual needs. There is no time left for themselves, much less relationships."

 "Ultimately, it is when we connect and address our needs that we can find balance and happiness. When this happens, we can give to others from a full heart. In other words, we can enhance our relationships by taking care of ourselves."

So it's time for a ME over-haul.
Physical, emotional, and spiritual.

I'll be sharing some tips and my experiences along the way.  

They may help you too, at least I hope they will.
Let's refill our love tanks so we can give more freely and sincerely from them.

 *Quotes in this post taken from here.