Listening to the air hostess giving the pre flight safety talk last week, a thought finally struck home. You must help yourself before you can help others.
She was talking about what to do in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss. You know the bit where the oxygen masks fall from the roof? Well like everyone who has children I have always thought why would I put my mask on first? The most important things to me, as every parent, are my children and I would gladly give my life for either of them, so why would I put my mask on first?
The answer is of course a simple one. You cant look after your children until you properly look after yourself first. This fact is also very true in our fight for better mental health I thought. How can we properly look after anyone else in our lives if we don’t know how to look after ourselves.
It is important to put yourself first when you are suffering with poor mental health. By looking after number one you make yourself a nicer person to be around so everyone benefits.
There is nothing wrong with taking time out for yourself, it is not being selfish. Its the first step to recovery and finding the real you will promote better mental health and self confidence.
I have spent most of my life jumping from one relationship to another. A fact I put down to not wanting to be alone, however this one thought made me realize that I didn’t need anyone else to be truly happy. What I needed was to take the time to look after myself first.