Worried about your Emotional and Mental Health?
Emergency! You hear
the announcement from the pilot to put your oxygen mask on. What do you do first? Put the mask on your child, or yourself? We're so focused on caring for others that
we instinctually put the mask on our loved ones first. We
reason once they're safe, then we'll put our mask on. Sadly, that would be a big mistake.
However, it tends to be the way we run our daily lives. We take care of ourselves (stop laughing) when
we have the extra time (again, stop laughing!!!), putting our needs last on a
long list of ‘to do’s’ which we never get to (stop crying).
Where does that put you?
Are you on the top of the list or at the bottom? If you put your ‘oxygen mask’ on, then you'll
have the mental, emotional and physical strength to do what’s necessary to help
those around you. If you put it on your
child first, they won't know what to do next when you collapse because you
didn't get the needed oxygen in time.
They are alive, but helpless.
We're juggling so many things, it’s exhausting. You can’t find any time for yourself. But if you could you'd hide yourself
somewhere to steal some ZZZZZZZ’s!!!!!
We all know sleep
is important to our overall health, so we rest.
We all know exercise is
important to our overall health; so we set the clock an hour earlier to do
running, or yoga, or whatever our choice.
We're learning about exercising our brains. So we learn to play an instrument, a new
language, or just learn something new.
All of the above can put stress on your emotional &
mental wellbeing as well as your interpersonal relationships. If your needs are put on the bottom of the
list, you may never get healthy on any level.
People around us will continue to ask us to do things for them, and we
want to help them. Unfortunately, your
oxygen mask is not on. Everyone else is
wearing theirs, but NOT YOU! You are in
a precarious position and it should change for your health and wellbeing.
Take the time to review your actions. Learn to say no. Put yourself first, so that when you are stronger
you can handle just about anything anyone throws at you.
This is where psychotherapy helps. I’m here to help strengthen your emotional
and mental wellbeing so you can handle life’s challenges.
