Fill Your Own Cup First

“You can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first.” ~ Zig Ziglar

This quote resonates with me on so many levels — As a woman, as a black woman, as a caregiver, and as a mom to a child (now a young man) blessed with autism.

How often do you try to take care of someone else when you barely have the energy to help yourself? I bet it happens more often than you care to admit.

Here’s what I think Zig meant

At first glance, this quote seems pretty straightforward. However, if you’re like me, when you read it your first thought was ‘yeah right.’ Chances are you have a mile-long or longer TODO list and there isn’t time on it for you. I get it. I felt the same way until one day I found myself in a heated argument with someone I was supposed to be taking care of.

Call it God or divine intervention or whatever floats your boat, but the thought went through my head that if I kept trying to force my will on this person then I was the one who was going to end up needing care from someone else. The actual thought that went through my head was, ‘if you keep fighting with this person, you’re going to have a stroke.’ Talk about a kick in the pants.

Wow.

This quote showed up in my life not long after that episode and it has remained with me.

I invite you to look at your TODO list and find a few minutes where you can fit yourself in. I acknowledge this can be difficult to do and it may even be overwhelming to think about yourself. But, it is so worth doing for your own mental and physical health.