The Importance of Self-Care

As a business woman that typically works well over 50 hours a week I have discovered the importance of a healthy self-care routine. I know it is not just something I want, it is a necessity for my sanity. I wasn’t always this way though. I found out the hard way, after a complete and total meltdown I knew something had to give. Through my 20’s and most of my 30’s I thought that working non-stop and saying yes to every thing from “Can you go ahead and get that report to me by Wednesday instead of Friday?” and “Mom can you pick me up from Emily’s at 10:30pm (!) and take me and my friends for ice cream?”, was okay because “I could handle it”. Right?? I mean that is what we do for our career and family. I had no clue at the time that I was running myself in the ground. Sure, I knew I was tired but I could always catch a nap while waiting on my daughters cheer bus to return to the school at 1am after an away game or even during lunch while in between clinics. I was completely unaware that even though my body was still going my brain and emotional well being were running on fumes. I was completing my reports and making all of my client meetings for work, I was even able to keep my house and family together...so I thought. I was really only living at about 60/70% at 90 miles an hour and my career and family life eventually started to show it. At that time I owned a photography studio and children’s boutique, this was just a side hustle on top of my 40 hour a week job as a compliance coordinator, so I was VERY busy. I got to the point that I definitely did not have time to work both places. I really hated my day job so one day I just quit, yep... I walked away to run my studio full-time. I just knew this was the answer to all of my prayers. I really thought that everything was just going to fall in place. I had rented the closest building I could find to my kids school for my studio, I wanted them to be able to walk there after school and hang out. I really thought they would WANT to be there every day and I thought they would eventually work there as well. Well, I was way off, they just want to be home and frankly so did I. But I couldn’t, I had walked away from a very nice salary to pursue my dreams as a business owner with the hopes of having more time at home and more time for me, you know...for self-care. It was a total disaster, I was a total disaster! I had hopped into the entrepreneurial ring without any help and really not much knowledge of how the game worked. I spent most of my time at the studio just trying to stay above water and very little time at home or on myself. After about a year I was feeling worse than I had before I quit my corporate job. I was still not spending adequate time at home with my kids and Husband and absolutely no time on me. So I made a few calls and found my way back into a career as a business consultant with a cosmetic surgery company. This time though I went into the corporate world completely different. I negotiated my time and salary with self-care at the top of my list. Self-care for me meant that I would have the much desired time to spend not just on myself but my family as well. I made a decision not to feel the undeniable and overwhelming stress I had been accustomed too for so long. Since then I have only moved up in my career. I now hold a Director position and a very successful health care company and have time for several vacations a year with my family. I can truly enjoy the charity work I do and attend networking events all the time. Also, I now have no problem saying NO because I know without a doubt that my time and my self-care is so incredibly valuable.