Pay Yourself First

There’s this money-saving concept that you should pay yourself first. Put money into your savings account before you pay other bills and such. I’m not sure how helpful it is with monetary situations — I can think of at least thirty situations where that advice could backfire and create bigger problems down the road — but I think it is helpful to an extent when it comes to emotional energy.

Give yourself your emotional energy first. Invest in actions that make you feel settled and sane before tackling things for other people. Even if you don’t have a ton of emotional energy in your figurative bank, taking five minutes away from everything else demanding your attention to focus on fulfilling your own emotional needs will hopefully help you down the road, like those financial savings are supposed to do.

I’ve been saying that to myself whenever I take a moment to take care of myself before I do something for someone else.