The Importance of Taking Care of Yourself: A Short Message

I think that for many of us, we want to be the one everyone can depend on. We want to be the hero. We want to take care of others as they have taken care of us, even if our own physical and/or mental health suffers.

Taking a sick day from work is hard because it feels like we are letting people down. We feel bad if we can’t help a friend in need at the time. However, it’s important that we remember that we are no good to anyone if we aren’t taken care of.

I continually need to learn this lesson. It is often hard for me to put myself first because I tend to think of it as being selfish. As of late, I often find myself in situations where I relearn this lesson constantly. It has been a real eye opener!

Let me share with you an example of this...

Story Time:

(To protect the business in this story I will not use their name or say what they sell)

I was at a job that wasn't good for my mental health. The business was incredibly disorganized and they didn’t have an inventory system nor a computerized database to keep track of new orders, and when they would be delivered. Even their filing system was a bit of a mess.

I was working as a full time receptionist and even though I asked persistently, no one would teach me about the products we were selling to customers. Therefore, I was unable to help customers choose the best product for their needs.

I had to hope that the customer already knew what product they needed and understood how it all works. I sounded completely incompetent to them; they even told me so. And it was this way for all the office staff. No one, including the boss and the service techs, knew when a customer would be receiving their order or when it would be installed/serviced.

Thus, everyday I had several customers calling me angry that their orders weren’t there yet, after a month of waiting. Other times, they would call angry because their order was completely forgotten about.

I can usually handle angry customers as long as I know how to help them, but what made it difficult was that NO ONE could help them. Not ONE person had any clear answer. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to help these customers and make sure that their orders were delivered and installed in a timely manner.

I was trying to get answers but there were none. I asked my boss a few times to have a meeting to talk about these major issues, but he didn't want to talk. I understood that he was very busy and majorly stressed out, but I wanted to be the best customer service rep that I could be. And I could not do that if I didn't have the tools to resolve these issues.

I was often hesitant to ask questions because he and the other staff were easily annoyed. I understood this because they were under a lot of stress, but again I needed to know information to help the customers.

My anxiety was at an all-time high. I felt trapped! I don’t believe in quitting. My father taught me to never quit. He would always say to stick it out no matter what. So I stayed. I tried doing yoga at night to cope with the anxiety and played fun music in the morning to brighten my mood. However, it did not help. During work, I would get very nauseous and shaky. The room kept spinning as issue after issue would come up. No one could help.

I completely understood why customers were angry with me, I would be too. But I couldn’t change it. Every day my anxiety got worse. I thought it would be selfish of me to quit. After all, my friends helped me get this job and my husband and I could've used the money.

I sought therapy for the first time ever. I always knew that I needed it but I never actually had been pushed to do it, until then. My therapist told me that I deserved to be happy and quitting my job was for the best. I have remembered those words everyday since. I never thought that I was allowed to quit for my own sake. I thought that it was selfish.

And fortunately, we were okay financially for me to do this. I also realized that even if we really did need the extra money, I could've looked for another job while at that job. It was at that time that I finally realized that I needed to take care of myself.

Thus, I decided to quit that job, and I took a month and a half break for therapy and reevaluating my job situation. I started working on the new blog website and I decided to look into different certification programs as well. After this, I continued my search for a new job.

This was the best decision!

I am a firm believer in hard work. I am constantly trying to learn and grow. As a part of this, I needed to learn to love myself enough to take care of myself. It isn’t selfish. It is essential to living a healthy life!

Conclusion

I understand how hard it can be to get out of that mindset. And honestly, we don’t treat ourselves like we do our friends, but we need to! It is high time we treat ourselves with so much love and kindness. Be your own best friend and look out for yourself.

Take a sick day if you feel sick. Stay home instead of going out to that party if you just need some you-time. Seek professional help if you feel you need it. Re-evaluate your job, your major, your relationships, your living situation, if needed. You deserve to be happy and healthy! My friends, please put yourself first. Take care of yourself so you can live your best life!