Self Care - The first step in taking care of others

If you have ever been on a plane you have heard the whole safety spiel about what to do if catastrophe happens. Personally I think this is why so many people are scared to fly. People would be scared to drive if every time you got in a car you were informed of all the bad things that could feasibly happen during your trip and what you should do to survive them, but I digress. One of the things the flight attendants will tell you is that if the cabin should lose air pressure oxygen bags will fall from the ceiling. The key thing they tell you is to place the mask on yourself before helping anyone else. That, and that oxygen is flowing even if the bag doesn't fully inflate but that has nothing to do with my thoughts for today...

There is a lot of evidence that the same philosophy holds true in other areas of life. I can't take care of my family if I'm not taking care of myself. And while I have been taking better care of myself lately, it isn't really that I'm taking better care of me - it's that I'm taking care of my unborn kid. If I am going to continue to be able to do everything my family needs me to do and set a good example for my kids to follow, I have to take better care of me for my sake and not just for their sake. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says " Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own". I know how sad it makes me to see peeling paint on the side of a church building. Imagine how much sadder it makes God to see the condition of His true temple!


The first thing I need to do is get more sleep. By nature I am a night owl (as evidenced by the fact that I am writing this post at 11:00PM) but my children... not so much. Whether I want to or not, my day starts around 7 in the morning. If I am staying up until 11... 12... or occasionally even 1, then there is no way that I am getting enough sleep. Particularly being pregnant and having Bear wake up occasionally in the night still. It means I end up crashing in the middle of the day and... you guessed it! Turning on the TV. It's really amazing how these things intertwine... 


So goal number two is that I am going to go to bed earlier. The ideal time is probably closer to 10 but yikes! That is a big change and I would probably lay there and stare at the ceiling. So I am going to start small. My self care goal is going to be to actually be physically IN BED by 11:00 every night. And on that note, I shall sign off. I am already late tonight, but there is no reason to be any later!