As women, we are faced with adversity almost each and every day of our lives. We deal with problems like the issue of equal rights for women, misogyny, sexual objectification, low self-esteem, fear of safety, finding our place in male-dominated careers, having to shave regularly, bad hair days, cramps, painting our nails with our non-dominant hand, and achieving the perfect winged eyeliner look; just to name a few. Out of all the issues we are forced to conquer on a daily basis, there is one particular issue that we have yet to master. This issue affects us the most without us realizing how much of an impact it has on our lives. We give too much of ourselves to everyone except for ourselves.
Nurturing is in our nature; we cannot escape this characteristic because it is in our DNA to nurture others. However, there comes a point in each of our lives where we find ourselves being too nurturing. We always jump when someone needs us. We always stop what we are doing to help someone else. We always add more things to our full schedules to accommodate other people. We always do more for others than others do for us.
Taking care of others is not an issue until you forget about the most important person in your life, YOU. Not focusing on yourself seems so small, but it can affect you in so many ways. Some people deal with depression as a result of giving too much, because they are so unhappy and have nothing left to give. Many become stressed about even the smallest things or simply burdened with life because they try so hard to please others. These effects can lead to health issues and psychological issues that are hard to recover from.
As you see, this is a huge problem that almost every woman is faced with. We often do not even know that we are giving so much of ourselves away because it becomes routine for us. It is important to focus on your happiness, your health, your mental state, and your overall well-being. That is going to require you to be a little selfish, which only means making sure you are in a good place in life before catering to everyone else in your life. Make yourself your main priority so that you will never run out of energy, love, time, and affection to give to others. Don’t forget to save a little extra for yourself too!