Why is it important to practice self care and work on ourselves? Because working on ourselves doesn’t affect just us. Working on ourselves also affects those around us. When we decide to take our health seriously- whether it be physical, mental, spiritual health, or all of them- our progress can impact the relationships we have with others.
A prime example of this is with our children. When we are able to work on ourselves and fill our own cups we are able to fill the cup of our children and families. If we are dealing with our own personal traumas and hardships how are we to be sure we don’t pass these on to our children? If we are working on our anger management and struggling to keep our cool, how can we expect our children to do the same? If we are not dealing with our anxiety and depression how can we expect our children to not inherit some of those same issues?
Dealing with our own personal issues is not easy. I’d be lying if I said i ever really took care of myself. I always put everyone’s needs above myself. I always say I’m fine when really, I’ve been drowning in the anxiety, depression and OCD/ perfectionist mentality I’ve suffered from for years. In the past 2 weeks I have started examining my own self. I’ve started thinking about how I can work on myself and realizing that maybe some of the issues my children have has stemmed from the way I behave. And that is a HARD revelation to have. not to say that I’m always to blame but I believe that the way we parent and interact with our children is a 100% reflection on ourselves and can impact them accordingly. So I’ve been changing the narrative. When I would normally respond with raised voices and time outs, I’ve taken a deep breath and thought before I reacted. When my four-year-old had a breakdown from being scared to go into the doctor, I let her have the tantrum. I let her feel her feelings. I validated her emotions and talked her through them. And she came out better from it. Was it hard to see all the people staring at me as they walked by my child’s temper tantrum outside of the doctors office? Yep. Did I want to break down and scream back at her and make her leave? You betcha. But I didn’t. And in that moment I had never been more proud of myself as a parent.
It’s not easy to recognize faults and weaknesses in ourselves. It’s not easy to take time to work on ourselves when our days are full to the brim of caring for everyone else, but it is a necessary step to becoming the person we are suppose to be. 💜
The Monarch Mama 