Prioritising yourself isn’t selfish
“Prioritising myself is selfish.” I hear this way too often.
Especially from mothers, and it saddens me because we are potentially teaching our children this way of thinking.
A common belief is: prioritising ourselves = putting ourselves first = selfish.
It can be helpful to reframe this.
If “prioritising” yourself stirs up guilt, try think of it as giving yourself the love and care you deserve. Make decisions that are kinder to yourself.
Sometimes, looking at things from our children’s perspective can put things in a new light.
For example, imagine your teen has been studying into the early hours of the night (or morning) all week. So on the weekend, they want to have a sleep in, and lounge around watching movies instead of helping you with the housework. My question to you is, are they being selfish? Of course not!
Their self care is catching up on sleep and taking it easy after an exhausting week. They need to slow down and rest. And as a parent, you’d absolutely encourage them to be kind to themselves and honour what they intuitively know they need.
This is why prioritising yourself isn’t selfish.
Showing our children how WE love and care for ourselves teaches THEM to do the same for themselves.
Ultimately we want to inspire them with self loving values so they care for themselves the way we do for them now.
Do you think prioritising yourself is selfish? I’d love to hear your thoughts.