If you love yourself, you’ll take care of yourself.
Business Week magazine reported they asked thousands of people how they were doing. The most common response they received was “I’m tired.” People seem to be worn out like never before.
Indeed. Even though people call me a motivational speaker or executive coach and even though it may be my “job” to tell people how to do more, be more, and get more, I have to admit there are limits. While it’s a very good thing to use your talents and be a peak performer, it’s not okay to achieve great things at the expense of your health and your family. Even the Bible says it makes no sense to gain the whole world and lose your soul.
Still, a lot of us feel the pressure to constantly work, achieve, and get ahead. For example, one of my coaching clients told me his greatest fear was standing behind Mother Teresa in the final judgment line and hear God tell her, “You know, you should have done more.” In other words, he felt the pressure to keep on doing more and more. It was never enough.
So how do you keep the balance? How do you achieve a great deal without being totally worn out?
► 1. Start by loving yourself.
That’s right … love yourself. Don’t confuse that with ego, conceit, arrogance, or a sense of superiority. Those are all signs of low self-esteem trying to hide behind actions of bluster and deception.
No, loving yourself is all about self-respect, self-care, and self-nourishment.
Of course, some of the participants in my university classrooms and corporate meetings look at me strangely and somewhat timidly ask, “What do you mean by loving yourself?”
I always give them the same answer that Dr. Sidney B. Simon, my 96-year-old mentor gave me. He said, “When you love yourself, you don’t hurt yourself.” You don’t do those things that will destroy your mental health, your physical health, your finances, your family, your relationships, your future career possibilities, or anything else that is important to you.
Unfortunately, many people don’t love themselves enough to do the loving things they need to be doing. They’d rather pursue unhealthy, self-destructive behaviors and then joke about it instead of choosing healthy, self-nourishing behaviors that would be good for them.
Take your health, for example. Do you love yourself enough to really take care of your health or do you joke about how you abuse your health?
One person said, “Seven days without pizza makes one weak.” Someone else said, “One of life’s greatest mysteries is how a two-pound box of candy can make you gain five pounds.” I suppose that’s why one person said “Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.”
If that’s the way you take care of yourself, then you can join the crowd that says, “Life not only begins at forty, it begins to show.”
Or as my great aunt Ella Mills (yes, the same Ella Mills who made her living as the “fat lady” in the Ringling Brothers Circus) used to say, “I’m in shape. Round is a shape.”
How much do you love yourself? Do you love yourself enough to not do those things that are hurting you? I hope so.
Love yourself. Simply and firmly decide that you are worth taking care of. It’s one way to keep yourself from being all tired, worn out, and off balance.
► 2. Make self-care a priority.
You can’t leave self-care to those times you’re so exhausted that you have no other choice. You have to make self-care a life-style or you will go downhill.
To make self-care a priority, periodically test yourself. Instead of living on autopilot, not even thinking about your balance, energy and health or your lack of it, take a look at the choices you’re making each day … from what you put in your mouth … to the TV and social media you let in your mind … to the people you hang around … and everything else. Every choice takes you closer to or further away from your own healthy self-care.
Every day, ask yourself, “Where did my choices take me today?” If you don’t like your answers, make some new choices tomorrow.
When you discover some self-destructive choices you’ve made instead of some self-loving ones, start to eliminate them your life, one by one. And there’s no better time than right now to do that, during this Christmas and New Year’s season, a season that’s all about birth, re-birth, and new beginnings.
To ensure your success,
► 3. Develop a support network that will keep you on track.
Let others know that you’re serious about self-care and life balance. Let them know you would appreciate them holding you accountable.
Be specific. Ask five people that know you and know about healthy living. Ask them to give you some honest feedback about how much you seem to love yourself and how well you take care of yourself. Ask each of them for one piece of advice that would help you live a healthier, more balanced, and self-nourishing lifestyle.
Then, as you work at improving, tell them what you need to stay on the improvement track. Maybe you need one of them to call you each day to check on how you’re doing. Or maybe you need someone to cheer you on when life becomes a bit overwhelming.
You only get to go around once in this world. How well you go around will be largely determined by how well you take care of yourself. So go out there and do it. Love yourself enough to take care of yourself.
Dr. Zimmerman’s Tuesday Tip, Issue 1272-If you love yourself, you’ll take care of yourself.?
For a copy of Dr. Zimmerman’s latest book, The Champion Edge: Skill Sets That Fire Up Your Business and Life, go to https://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/the-champion-edge-skill-sets-that-fire-up-your-business-and-life/
To subscribe to Dr. Zimmerman’s free weekly Internet newsletter, the Tuesday Tip, or to give someone else a free subscription, go to https://www.drzimmerman.com/subscribe. You’ll also receive Dr. Z’s whitepaper on 93 Truths for Unlimited Happiness and Success.
To receive more information on Dr. Z’s speaking, training, and leadership coaching, go to https://www.drzimmerman.com/.