When your cup is empty.

It hit me without warning this time.  I usually could see it coming but this time it caught me off guard.  All of a sudden, I found myself to be sad and crying, although there was no real reason to be.

Just as I was beginning to think I was losing my mind I had a realisation.  I had not been taking care of myself.  Sure I was doing all the wonderful courses on leadership and mindfulness ,but I wasn’t actually taking the time for me.  I had been staying in bed longer than normal. couldn’t get up in the mornings. actually forcing myself to have a shower! ….My cup had run dry.

The awful thing is, most people don’t realise that you can be sad even though everything in your life seems to be perfect.  People will say to you, “what do you have to be sad about? Your life is perfect”  As a society we need to realise that it’s okay to have these feelings for any reason and it’s nothing to be ashamed about. We need to take time to let these feelings come and go.

I had to let the emotions come to the surface and face them head on.  I had been pushing them down for days, which wasn’t healthy.  I had to give myself permission to just let it be.

After having a healthy cry, I took some items off of my to do list. I made a promise to drink more water and eat healthier and  to take some quiet time for me.  For myself this meant writing, journaling, crocheting and being mindful of my feelings throughout the day.  I also decided to learn how to use my camera in manual mode and experiment taking pictures.  We each have different ways to refill our cup but we must remember that it needs to be  a priority.

The teacher in one of my mindfulness classes says “you can’t pour from an empty cup”. This is great advice because how can you give of yourself to others if you have no more to give.  So, figure out what fills your cup and make sure you take the time to do it.