For anyone who has ever traveled by plane you’ve always heard it said by the flight attendant. “Please remember to put your mask on first and then help those around you who need help.” It never seems to make sense right off when you hear it, especially if you’re traveling with children because in the event that anything should happen you always want to protect your child first. As a parent it’s just a natural instinct. But that statement, as off as it may initially seem, should not only hold true in cases of emergency, but it should also hold true in everyday life. No one can take better care of you then you and if you don’t know how, or learn how, to take care of yourself first then how can you truly be efficient in taking proper care of anyone else?
In life we take on so many roles and create so many identities that it can get easy to loose yourself in it all. You choose your career and then it becomes your driving force and everything that you are about. You get married and then have kids and you’re a spouse and now a parent. You want to be everything to everyone, from your boss, to your spouse and of course your children and sometimes it can become very easy to forget to take care of yourself, or even to abandon the thought of taking care of yourself altogether. But if we don’t take care of ourselves first then how can we guarantee that we will be around to practice that nurturing spirit of wanting to do for others.
I am guilty on all levels of this because it seems as though ever since I had my daughter that I have forgotten the whole concept of doing anything for myself. Everything is about taking care of her and doing for her and I have held true to the phrase that once you have children that there is no more you, everything is just about them. But I am starting to realize that it doesn’t have to be like that and it shouldn’t be. I am a single mother and there is no one else to do for her but me but if I never take any time to take better care of myself and do small little things for myself that keep my sanity in tact then how can I make sure that I am always going to be around for her. If I’m falling apart how can I hold her, or anyone else for that matter, together?
Think of it as an investment in yourself. Realize that taking care of your inner needs and tending to yourself on a regular basis gives you a certain peace of mind that should be cherished and never taken for granted. There has to be a balance in your life in order for things to run effectively and smoothly. You can’t be so busy doing this, that, and the other for everyone but you. You are worth more then that and you deserve to treat yourself as well as you treat everyone else around you. It is not only a sane way of living but a healthy one as well and it works wonders for the creative minds of us writers. It’s not selfish to look out for you. In reality it’s more selfish if you don’t. So the next time you’re taking a flight, listen to those instructions from the flight attendant that we always tend to sleep through and apply them to your everyday life. If you’re not used to doing it, go ahead and try it, put your mask on first for a change.
Jimmetta Carpenter
Writer/Editor
The Diary: Succession of Lies (Release Date TBA)
Writing as “Jaycee Durant”
http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/
https://writetobe.wordpress.com/
http://freemynd.wordpress.com/
Write 2 Be 
This was more than just a good reminder for me. I have three children and a husband suffering from a mental illness. Life is overwhelming at the moment, and I am not coping well. It is easier to focus on keeping things healthy for my kids, so they won’t be affected by it all. but I am not in a very healthy place right now. Yes, I need to take a look at how to care for myself so that I can be there for my children 100 %, rather than the shell of a person I have been lately. Thank you.
I usually don’t post on Blogs but ya forced me to, great info.. excellent! … I’ll bookmark your site.