I wanted to share with you a little insider analogy: the cup.
The cup is your energy reserve. Everyone has one; some days your cup drains faster. Sometimes your cup is full from the start, and you can go all day!
Think about this (or use this as a journal prompt) –
What drains your cup? Think about the last time you felt totally out of gas. What happened that day? Where did you go? What were the circumstances? Who was involved? What were you going through outside of the situation?
What fills your cup? Remember the last time you felt good. And I don't mean when you saw someone you know at the coffee shop, and you answered “yeah, I'm good”, but rather a time when you thought “man, I feel on top of my game right now”. What were the circumstances of that day? What did you do that filled your cup?
It's often true that our circuit becomes shorter when we haven't been taking care of oursleves as much. I can recall a few times that I had overbooked myself and, let me tell you, the grumpiness comes much faster than when I'm balanced and well taken care of.
Everyone has different things that help them feel good. Is yours alone time? A great conversation? A yoga class? That morning meditation? A healthy breakfast?
However you answered the last question is your self-care special ingredient for filling your cup. So this holiday season, when you're baking all those cookies, don't forget that. What is that special ingredient that takes care of you?
How you show up for yourself reflects how you show up for others. You cannot pour from an empty cup. Think: putting on your oxygen mask first in an airplane.
So, be gentle with yourself. Cut yourself some slack (especially during the holidays). Make time to take care of yourself so you can be fully present to enjoy the festivities – whatever they may be!
P.S. I particularly love this cup analogy because it makes room for those extra things we struggle with. I like to think of these extra things as a pinhole in your cup. This could be: experiencing grief, a mental illness, a physical illness, discrimination, food insecurity, or anything else. If you have extra pinholes in your cup, be extra kind to yourself. And remember that you are doing your best. *sigh of relief*
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