Do you invest in yourself?
Yes, that was a serious question.
I’m pretty confident you may have just let out a snort of laughter. Followed by “Are you kidding me?!” Or was it “I’ll get to it” and “when I have time”?
Let me guess. You invest your time, money, thoughts, energy, and even material items for your family and at your work. With what’s left, you dedicate these same things to volunteering for your kid’s activities, church, community, or other organizations tied to family or career. At the end of the day, you’re too exhausted to do more than prep for the next day’s demands and fall into bed.
Weekends aren’t much different. You replace the work schedule with chores and errands you couldn’t do because you were at work. Occasionally, you’ll take what you consider a vacation. But vacations are usually for family or friends or kid activities where you still provide for the needs and wants of others.
Periodically, something will give out, forcing you to rest. One way or another, you’ve had to take an involuntary break.
If this is you, you’re far from alone. It was also me. I gave what I had to my family and my work. I committed my resources to providing and caring for my family’s wants and needs, and I gave my best to my career. And, because my work was as a public school science teacher and then a personal trainer, the nurturer in me provided close to the same at work as I did at home.
Don’t get me wrong. I would change very little about the time, money, thoughts, energy, and material items I dedicated to my family and careers. Nor to all the volunteering I did. What I would change would be to budget and invest time, energy, thoughts, money, and material items on myself. I’d invest in myself.
Bear with me as I take a thought process curve.
Loss happens naturally. Time marches on. Careers, and even relationships, change. Children grow up and fly from the nest to start their lives and find their own nests. Parents age and will pass. Each of us will grow older and transition, hopefully gracefully, into middle age, then old age. These are all, in their way, losses.
There are times, too, when we’re forced to encounter circumstances and crises that create an unexpected and heartbreaking loss.
But, there is one loss you can prevent or at least the chance to deter. It’s the loss of self.
So, back to my opening question. Do you invest in yourself? If you do not, I urge you to start doing so today. Yes, today. Investing in yourself is a self-affirmation that you are worthy, valued, loved, and of equal priority to those you love and care for. Investing in yourself is a learned skill, and it will take focused practice if no one has modeled it for you.
I’m sure you’ve picked up the theme between today’s and Monday’s blog 😊
I firmly believe that investing in yourself, or what I frequently call self-nurturing, will support you when losses press or crash into your life. It’s a challenging place to be – that’s an understatement – when you experience loss.
And, when you discover you’re unsure of who you are because your identity was tied to what you just lost, that challenging place is filled with unknown darkness.
I guarantee you’ll be hearing a lot about investing in yourself and self-nurturing in my blog. It’s a considerable learning curve within the journey I’ve found myself on. But, for now, let’s both dedicate time to ourselves today to do something exclusively for our own well-being.
If you’re unsure of where to start, that’s ok. Think of something you would enjoy doing or long to have just a moment in time for. Then do it. Soon, you’ll progress to scheduling time and activities solely for you – think hobby, friend time, health, pure enjoyment, fun. Self-love, dear friend.
So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to wrap up this blog, change, and take my Sunni to the park to play ball. When we get home, I’ll turn on some music and do a workout.
Your turn. What will you be doing to invest in yourself today? 💙
