I am on vacation this week! I'm not bragging, really. (Although I am on a beach in the Caribbean ...) I'm taking care of myself. Do you take care of yourself?
That almost sounds like a silly question. You eat, you sleep, you work, maybe you exercise. But actually taking care of oneself is not an automatic activity. I've learned this the hard way, from getting to the brink of collapse before stopping to say "What do I need right now?" And since I've learned that lesson, I've also become alert to the fact that there are many people who behave that same way. Often it's women, mothers, but there are many men too who put others' needs and demands ahead of their own.
Sure, there are also lots of selfish people in the world. In fact, the selfish ones, who always take care of their needs first, are the ones who make the rest of us feel like we have no right to put our needs first. It seems selfish, doesn't it?
It's not. The advice I get from the people I trust is "you can't take care of anyone else unless you're taking care of yourself first." So that's what this vacation is: a chance to take care of myself. My absolutely fantastic staff is still around to take care of you, so come in and let them do that.