If you’re a very caring person, you probably also struggle with taking care of yourself first. You’re the first to come to someone’s aid; to offer your shoulder; to listen to them; or to lend them a hand. This is all about being healthy and taking care of yourself. Doing this does not make you selfish and I’ll use an airplane ride to prove it!
YOUR HEALTH COMES FIRST
The reason I thought about this was because I see a lot of people (especially women) who are super caring and they always put other people ahead of themselves. As admirable as that is, it’s very sad when you see them slowly but surely wearing their health down. Your health is the most important thing in the entire world. Yes, that’s a bit of a blanket statement…and I’m sticking by it.
It’s even worse when I see others take advantage of their kindness and generosity. I’m here to tell you that yes, your kindness makes you special and that’s a beautiful thing, but don’t put the health of others ahead of your own. That doesn’t mean you can’t help someone, it just means you should help yourself first. In fact, I’ll show you why doing this is more selfless than you think!
THE AIRPLANE
Have you ever been on an airplane? Okay, so unfortunately no one seems to pay attention to the safety instructions before the plane takes off.
If you did, you’d remember one of the very important instructions should the plane’s on-board oxygen masks come tumbling in front of your eyes. They instruct you to put your oxygen mask on you first before helping anyone else out with theirs. That means taking care of yourself first before helping your child, your sibling, your parent, the pope, or even your favourite celebrity.
Consider all the scenarios and you’ll see why:
(1) They can do it themselves.
Great! You don’t even have to worry. Case closed!
(2) They need help and you decide to help them first.
Awesome. So…they couldn’t put it on themselves so you came to the rescue. Now that you’ve helped them with theirs you’ve put yourself in danger. Even if you don’t pass out from lack of oxygen you just hurt yourself. Worst case scenario (which is very likely) is that you can no longer help yourself and you need them to help you. Now…have you ever tried putting makeup on someone else, tie their laces, or zip their jacket? It’s more difficult right? So if they couldn’t do their own what makes you think they’ll be able to help you?
(3) They need help and decide to help them second.
See how I said second there? I didn’t say last. Don’t think that you’re neglecting someone. In fact, you’re giving them the best service they could possibly get. Helping yourself first puts you in the best position to help them now. You aren’t gasping for breath and stressing over the fact that you both might be in trouble. By being at 100% health you can now help someone else. In fact, help as many people as you can now!
YOU CAN STILL CARE FOR PEOPLE
Being able to help others is a blessing and helping yourself first plays a large part in achieving that. There is a sustainable level that you can reach where you can put others ahead of you if you really need to as long as you don’t forget what’s most important – your health!
It’s great when you can prop someone else up to get them over a wall, but get over that wall first and you can pull them up instead!
It’s time to put yourself first!
We want to know your thoughts! Do you or disagree with our airplane analogy? Comment below!
Jonathan How is the photographer behind Made by Ten and calls Milton his home. He specializes in creating beautiful, creative portraits of real women. He uses photography (and this blog) to help them build confidence and love for themselves and creates artistic images for their homes and offices. You can see him driving around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada from portrait to fashion shoot and back again.