Celebrating self care over self sacrifice for women in honour of International Women's Day 2025 and beyond!
After spending much of my life time as one of the many women that sacrifice their time, money and energy for others I'm delighted to shine a light on those of us who have and are beginning to put ourselves first.
I completely understand that this may appear selfish for a moment but let's unpack the act of "putting yourself first" together now.
When you take the time to truly put yourself first you open up the opportunity for a wonderful ripple of self care, support and love to flow.
Every time that you visibly put yourself first you give everyone around you the permission to put themselves first too.
If you say no to an extra bit of work, social engagement or new opportunity because you choose to for your own health you are putting yourself first.
Similar to placing your oxygen mask on first in a plane emergency this allows you to then support others to the very best of your ability.
Yet if you choose to sacrifice your health and jump in to help others immediately your help will be less valuable as you will only be able to offer it for a short time.
But when you look after yourself and your mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health you are fully empowered to support others to do the same and enjoy your daily life.
When you are stuck in the self sacrifice mindset you can easily forget to even check in with how you're feeling.
Your own thoughts, feelings and emotions will often be brushed aside and eventually forgotten.
Your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional wellbeing can start to fade into insignificance as you offer yourself less and less opportunities, time and energy and space to relax, rebalance and refuel yourself.
Everyone needs certain things in life including rest, sustenance and support.
It's important to instead show yourself and everyone else that you do absolutely matter.
You matter exactly as you are now and always.
You deserve to be given respect, love, connection and time every day.
You get to be seen, heard, supported and understood.
Plus you get to gift all of this to yourself first!
You get to ask yourself how you're feeling.
You get to listen to your answer.
Then you get to ask yourself what you need right now, listen to your answer and support yourself with it.
If you find yourself not yet putting yourself first, emotionally, mentally, physically or spiritually exhausted from spreading yourself too thin then reach out for support.
And whenever you're ready start to check in with yourself regularly with this super simple 3 second practice.
If it's safe to do so close your eyes and ask yourself:
"How do I feel right now?"
Take time to listen to your answer and remember that your feelings will naturally flow like the sea and eventually pass.
So however you feel in this moment is only in this moment and will gently fade and disappear in time.
There are also other practices to support you to release any stacked emotions and feelings and whenever a feeling feels too big for you alone please reach out for support from your loved ones, health professionals and holistic professionals as appropriate. You can find some on the take34u mission page here lizclifton.co.uk/take34u
This simple activity supports you to start strengthening your self awareness as your creating a conversation with yourself.
It shows you that you and your feelings matter as you are respecting yourself enough to start connecting and communicating with yourself.
With practice and patience you will get your self check in answers quicker and will be able to serve and support yourself with kindness and understanding.
In turn by putting yourself first and asking what you need you can also start to ask for support as you recognise your self worth.
This act of seeking support also empowers those around you to step up and offer their help and support.
We naturally live and love to help others so this can deeply strengthen your relationships and connections whilst also showing them the power of self care and putting yourself first.
So that they too can check in with themselves and also reach out for support whenever they need it.
The cascade effect of self care and clear, connected wellbeing that follows is powerful enough to change your household, your community and the world.
Now as you join us and start to stand up for the importance of your self care over any old self sacrifice you unleash your right of personal and global recognition and set into the wonder that is womankind.
You too have the opportunity to join a movement of self care superwomen ready to change the ways of humanity and weave a web of strong international love.
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