It’s so easy to miss the constant change that happens right before our eyes…
Lorie Sheffer has been a featured, weekly blogger at Mid Life Celebration and has her own page of posts. Here’s Lorie’s latest, “Taking Care”:
“If you took as good care of yourself as you do the rest of your family, you wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
My doctor said that to me a few years ago. He told me that I was not the first person he had ever said it to. In fact, it is a line he repeats almost daily.
Why do we treat our loved ones better than we treat ourselves? Looking back, I think of the times I would make my grandson’s lunch, taking care to include some raw veggies and fruit slices. Then he would lie down for a half hour nap while I ate the crust he left from his sandwich, multitasking laundry, dishes and wiping sticky fingerprints from the walls. Or those summer days when everyone was having fun swimming in the pool I had just spent all morning cleaning, while I was inside preparing a meal for them to enjoy. I don’t think that I am alone in this, either. At least according to my doctor I’m not.
It is not selfish to say “no.” It does not mean you are negligent if you make someone help him or herself while you take a few minutes for you. One of my very favorite friends, who has obviously learned to take care of herself, said it best this past Christmas. She told me that her husband had said he sure would love to have some fresh baked Christmas cookies. She handed him a cookbook and went out to get a pedicure.
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