Take care of yourself so you can care for others

"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving."

—Mother Teresa

I can’t believe Christmas is upon us once again. The hustle and bustle of the season will soon be in full swing. Time to have Christmas parties, shop, help those who are less fortunate than us, figure out all the family dynamics and so much more. However, if we are not careful, we can burn out fast. We can be so busy taking care of others that we neglect ourselves.

Just like on an airplane during an emergency as we must put on our oxygen mask first and then can help the person next to us, we must take care of ourselves to care for others. I'm not suggesting we be selfish, but I don’t want us to become burned out because we are always giving. It is true that to give of ourselves to others, we need to save some energy for ourselves.

I'm suggesting one take a nice hot bath to relax the muscles. It is getting cold out, so stay in and play games with a loved one. Cook some soup or chili. Hot chocolate is great to warm us up. The beauty is that it doesn’t take much to recharge our batteries so we can continue to do more. The idea behind self-care is to keep helping others, but we need to reserve enough energy so we can continue to help others. Don't overlook yourself this Christmas while you volunteer your time.

Kyle Snyder can be emailed at kylesnyder86@yahoo.com.