Taking Care of Ourselves

It's time to shine and to take care of ourselves. We must learn to trust in our Higher Power and let that be our GPS to navigate threw life.

"Taking Care of Ourselves 

It's healthy, wise, and loving to be considerate and responsive to the feeling and needs of others. That's different from caretaking. Caretaking is a self-defeating and, certainly, a relationship-defeating, behavior-a behavior that backfires and can cause us to feel resentful and victimized-because ultimately, what we feel, want, and need will come to the surface.

Some people seem to invite emotional caretaking. We can learn to refuse the invitation. We can be concerned; we can be loving, when possible; but we can place value on our own needs and feelings too. Part of recovery means learning to pay attention to, and place importance on, what we feel, want, and need, because we begin to see that there are clear, predictable, and usually undesirable consequences when we don't.

Be patient and gentle with yourself as you learn to do this. Be understanding with yourself when you slip back into the behavior of emotional caretaking and self-neglect.

But stop the cycle today. We don not have to fee responsible for others. We do not have to feel guilty about not feeling responsible for others. We can even learn to let ourselves feel good about taking responsibility for our needs and feelings.

Today, I will evaluate whether I've slipped into my old behavior of taking responsibility for another's feeling and needs, while neglecting my own. I will own my power, right, and responsibility to place value on myself."

~Melody Beattie