Take Care of Your Needs First

(soft relaxing music) It's Wednesday, April 15th, and it's your Daily Shine. Time to connect with you and your community, and choose what you want out of your day. A lot of us are reaching out to help others in these uncertain times. We wanna be that friend people can lean on, or put a smile on someone's face. Be a light in the darkness. But there's a difference between helping others and putting their needs before our own. That's something we like to call emotional caretaking. It's when we constantly rush to care for the emotions of everyone else and leave our own feelings on the back burner. Here are some words from a Shine member, Melissa, who captures it perfectly. I'm a pediatric nurse, so when I'm caring for patients, I'm caring for not only them, but their family. So being able to know that I am taking care of myself and able to give back what I feel I've invested in myself is important. I have started not feeling guilty about taking naps when I wanna take a nap. And I've been enjoying time at my house doing things like playing with my dogs, working with my houseplant a lot more, and cooking so that when I do have people who need me, I feel like I have something to give. Thanks so much, Melissa. See, the truth is we always have to prioritize our needs before anyone else's. After all, it's only when we can take care of our emotional needs that we can take care of others. You can't pour from an empty cup. And the key is in noticing how you feel, noticing when you're feeling drained, when you feel like you've been giving too much, when you feel more in touch with how someone else is feeling than how you are feeling. Emotional caretaking comes from wanting to be there for others, which is an incredible value. But being honest when you need to take time to care for yourself helps other people around you be honest too. Give yourself permission to say no, set boundaries, and do what you need to make sure you're taken care of. Let's try and dig deep now with a meditation to tune into our needs today and see where we're at. (calming music) Take a deep breath in and out. Give your shoulders a roll back and forward. stretch your arms way up as you inhale and lower them down on the exhale. Let your breath return to its regular pace and close your eyes. Notice how your body feels in this moment. (calming music) We are going to do a body scan meditation, so you can check in with your physical and mental needs. I'll give you prompts to focus your attention on different parts of your body, and I want you to just notice how they feel without needing to change anything about it. Just take note. Maybe there's a buzzing or tingling, or...