15 Reasons You Should Always Put Yourself First
If your mind isn’t healthy, you aren’t healthy. That’s why self-care is so important. It’s imperative that you take the proper care of yourself, even if that means being a little selfish sometimes. You’d be surprised at just how fast you can start in a downward spiral the minute you start neglecting yourself, so it’s important to start ASAP. Here are a few key reasons to put yourself first:
1. You Can’t Help Anyone If You Can’t Help Yourself
You can’t expect to be able to help others with whatever they may need if you can’t even help yourself with what you need. You know how on airplanes during the safety instruction they tell you to secure your air mask before helping others? That’s because you can’t help others survive if you can’t breathe yourself. The same rule applies in life.
2. Not Everyone Has The Same Heart As You
You’ll end up very disappointed if you think everyone is going to do for you as you do for them. So spare yourself the heartache. You need to put yourself first because you can’t depend on anyone to do it for you.
3. It Shows People The Proper Way To Treat You
If you go around depleting yourself trying to help others before yourself, it’s going to show and unfortunately there will be people who will take advantage of that. They will use and abuse you simply because they see that you allow it. But, if you show people that you care about yourself and don’t go around killing yourself to try and save others, so to speak, people will see that you value yourself and won’t stand for anyone taking advantage of you. So while they might try, it will never work because you won’t allow it.
4. Self-Compassion Makes You A Better Person
After a while of draining yourself, it’s going to start to show, and it’s going to show in a way that people don’t want to be around. You will be negative and bringing other people down with you. But, if you practice self-compassion, that will show, as well, just in a much more positive way. You will be a more positive and happy person, which is what everyone wants to be around.
5. Stress Negatively Affects Your Health
Believe it or not, stress can cause a lot of physical symptoms. Stress that is left unchecked can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. While other factors, such as genetics, can also contribute to those problems, why add fuel to the fire?
6. You Can Avoid A Mid-Life Crisis
After a few decades of self-deprivation (and maybe a few other factors), a mid-life crisis happens. If you’ve ever seen or heard of someone who snapped, that is because they have ignored all the signs for years. So do your future self a favor and recognize the signs now. You’ll be better off in the long run.
7. You’ll Set An Example For Your Kids (Or Future Kids)
Whether you have kids now or want kids in the future, chances are you want them to be happy and successful in their lives. Well, their first examples of how to be happy and successful are going to be from you. You have to show them what being happy and successful looks like and you can’t do that if you never put yourself first.
8. It Will Benefit Your Family
Whether you have a family of your own now or you are just within your immediate family, putting yourself first will positively benefit them. When you are stressed due to over-exerting yourself, it causes a lot of tension within a family, which can cause damage in the long run. Avoid that by putting yourself first.
9. You Need To Love Yourself First
It may sound cliché, but it’s true. You can’t expect yourself to love anyone or anyone to love you if you don’t even love yourself. While you might be in a happy relationship right now, it will eventually catch up with you, and the ending won’t be pretty. Spending some time alone and practicing self-care will benefit your future relationships.
10. It’s Not Selfish, It’s Necessary
It’s easy for some people to think that it’s a selfish act to put yourself first. That, however, could not be further from the truth. It is never selfish to do what’s best for you – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Anyone who doesn’t support that doesn’t support you and that isn’t someone you want in your life anyway.
11. You’ll Attract Positive Relationships
You attract what you emit. If you give out positivity and happiness that is exactly what you are going to receive. Once you let go of the negativity in your life, you will see just how quickly positive replacements come into your life.
12. You’ll Learn How To Say No
Saying no is something that takes practice for a lot of people. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is something that does need to be learned. The more you start putting yourself first, the more you will start saying no, and the easier that will become.
13. It’s OK To Be Selfish Sometimes
As I said, it is never selfish to do what’s best for you. However, there is nothing wrong with being a little selfish from time to time – especially in the beginning stages of putting yourself first. It will show people that you value yourself and won’t stand for being taken advantage of, which is a very good thing.
14. It Will Make You More Confident
We’ve talked about how putting yourself first will make you a more positive and happy person, but it will also make you more confident, and the people worth having in your life love confidence.
15. You Are Worth It
Above all else, you should start putting yourself first simply because you are worth it.
