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This Random Talk-Abouts topic is... When Is It Okay To Be Selfish?  I feel like we're always taught how wrong it is to be selfish. We should always put others first. We should always think about others before ourselves. We should always put ourselves last. I've no problems with people, myself included, being selfless & thinking more of others. However, my problem comes in with the "always" bit. Sometimes we can't take care of others without first taking care of ourselves. How are we supposed to keep giving if we've nothing left? Eventually you'll hit empty & need some help yourself. There's nothing wrong with needing help, but what if your problem's just that you're stretched too thin & that you could help yourself just by taking a little "you time"? That's kind of where I've found myself recently. I've never talked about the problems I had (mostly when I was in my teens) with anxiety & eating issues (other than a mention on Twitter of a small victory I had recently), but I've been struggling a lot with that the past couple weeks. When I took a step back I realized what was triggering it &, while I can't control all of it, part of it is completely within my power to stop. I'm not going to into the things I can't control in this post since 1) It's out of my control so there's no point in rehashing it & 2) it involves other people & I don't feel that it's my place to share without their permission. Things I can control though are something that I kind of brought on myself. I've been saying yes to helping everyone with everything leaving less time for the things that I need to get done. (Skipped blog posts, anyone?) I've also been stressed out majorly. Stretching myself too thin is part of that stress. I feel like I need to learn that it's OK for us to day no sometimes. If we have too much on our plates already it doesn't seem fair to anyone. It isn't fair to ourselves because it puts unneeded pressure on us & it isn't fair to the other person because we can't do our best if we're already doing so many other things. The other source of my stress is actually coming up tomorrow morning; I've got a doctor appointment that I'm really worried about. Instead of taking my mom's advice (Mama knows best, ya'll) & realizing that there's no sense in stressing out over something that hasn't even happened yet good ol' anxiety kicked in & my mind immediately escalated to the worst possible outcome & I've spent the last week being convinced that that's what is going to happen. If anything I'm creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Add all that up & it equals a hot mess.  This got me to thinking though. How many of you do the same thing? Stretching yourself so thin trying to be selfless or just out of fear of people thinking you selfish that you forget to take time for you. Bottom line is, sometimes you have to take care of you before you can take care of everyone else. It isn't selfish to put yourself first now & then. Even if it's just a few minutes to meditate, do something you love, or even just have a pamper night. Ultimately these things do affect your health both mentally, physically, & emotionally. With that being said I want to challenge y'all a bit. In the upcoming weeks, if at all possible, I want each a of you to take a little time for yourselves. It doesn't have to be much, just a few minutes a week if that's all you can spare. Put yourself first for just that little bit of time & do something you love. No work, no getting ahead on chores, or anything like that, just something for you. I still expect y'all to be sweet to one another though, so no turning into egotistical jerks on me! I just want everyone to realize that you have to take care of yourself as well because you're important too. Comment below & let me know if you're up for the challenge or if you have any tips to destress or favorite ways to spend your "me time". Catch y'all on the flipside.