Taking Ownership of Your Life

Ever feel like you run around taking care of everyone else and their to-do lists but never take a second to help yourself? In the counseling world, this is what we call self-care and healthy boundaries. Today, I’m going to share a few suggestions on how you can start taking care of yourself.


1. Setting Up Healthy Boundaries

I use the term “healthy boundaries” all the time with my clients. It is a concept that we have to manually put in place. When we are pulled into so many different directions, we tend to put ourselves last. And, for some of us, putting ourselves first might have a negative ring to it. When you set up a healthy boundary, you are putting into place something that is going to help you out in the long run. That’s why it is called a healthy boundary.


2. Listen to Your Gut

Every now and again our gut tells us that we need to do something, change it up. When we choose not to listen to it, we end up becoming stressed or seeing other areas in our lives shift to a place we don’t want them to go. Change your patterns. The moment your intuition tells you it’s time to move forward with something, listen to it. Don’t wait for life to get bad before you make a move.


3. Put Yourself First

I know I just talked about this concept in step #1, but I think that it is such a huge topic that I need to reiterate its importance. Putting yourself first actually helps everyone out in the long run. Putting yourself first means speaking up when your plate is full. It means taking ownership of your time and how you spend it. Now, I’m not saying get all narcissistic but I am saying that when things get stressful, remember to take care of yourself.


My Take Away…

Start taking back your life. Setting up healthy boundaries is the first step. Make decisions that are going to be best for you. Clean off your plate when it is overflowing. Listen to your intuition. If you need to make a change, don’t wait for things to get really bad. Make the changes you need to make to improve the your life and the lives of those who love you.