Put on your own oxygen mask first
When you travel on a commercial air flight, you always get instructions on what to do in an emergency. If the air pressure falls in the main cabin, for example, oxygen masks will appear above you.
If you are the kind of person who thinks about other people's welfare, you may want to help someone else put on their oxygen mask. This is an act of kindness and may save someone's life.
But the instructions are clear--put on your own mask first.
Why? Because you can't help people if you don't take care of your own basic needs.
This is a hard lesson. You may have been told that a good person puts other people's needs before their own. In some cases, this is good advice.
Yet always putting other people first can get you into a place where no one is taking care of you. And in that place, you may stretch yourself so thin that you can do nothing for anyone.
So the lesson is this: figure out what you need to be mentally, spiritually, physically, and psychologically healthy. Build routines into your life to maintain your health. Try to stick to them even when things are rushed, confused, and overwhelming--in an emergency, so to speak.
Then you will have the peace of mind and body that gives you strength to help the people who need your help.
If you are the kind of person who thinks about other people's welfare, you may want to help someone else put on their oxygen mask. This is an act of kindness and may save someone's life.
But the instructions are clear--put on your own mask first.
Why? Because you can't help people if you don't take care of your own basic needs.
This is a hard lesson. You may have been told that a good person puts other people's needs before their own. In some cases, this is good advice.
Yet always putting other people first can get you into a place where no one is taking care of you. And in that place, you may stretch yourself so thin that you can do nothing for anyone.
So the lesson is this: figure out what you need to be mentally, spiritually, physically, and psychologically healthy. Build routines into your life to maintain your health. Try to stick to them even when things are rushed, confused, and overwhelming--in an emergency, so to speak.
Then you will have the peace of mind and body that gives you strength to help the people who need your help.
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