As a mental health professional and life coach I often teach my clients about what I call “Oxygen Therapy”. What is that? Well if you’ve ever flown on a plane you have heard the attendant go over the safety instructions. The one that often sticks out to me is “in case of an emergency, the oxygen mask will fall from the overhead. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first before attempting to help anyone else…even young children”. Before I had my two little one’s that never stood out to me. But now, with two lives depending on me and my husband that really shocks me! My first response, God-forbid if something were to happen on a flight, would be to take care of my girls first. But that’s the exact opposite of what we are instructed to do.
Read that again: “Put the oxygen mask on yourself first before attempting to help anyone else…even young children”.
See that goes against everything that some of us have been taught. We’ve someone accepted the message that in order to be godly, humble or sincere, we must sacrifice all of what we need or even want for everyone else. While there are godly and Biblical principles that speak to self-sacrifice, I believe we’ve gotten off track to the spirit of the Word.
I believe….with my “Oxygen Therapy” point of view….that we can’t really be what others need from us, until we are healthy, whole and in order in our own lives. We can’t teach, inspire, encourage and be there for others, until we are teachable, inspired and encouraged ourselves! We have to be breathing before we can help someone else breath.
Think about it. If all you do is pour out – your time, energy, resources, support, etc – and you never take the time to refill, what good are you really doing to the people in your life. Maya Angelou says that we teach people how to treat us. If we act like we have an “S” on our chest (‘superMAN or superWOMAN’), people will always assume that we are okay. If we never set the appropriate boundaries that allows us to take time to refill, we will find ourselves angry, bitter and disconnected. And it’s no one’s fault. Other than, in the words of MJ, “the man in the mirror”.
So, today…let’s all commit to a little “Oxygen Therapy”. Let’s take some time…even if it’s only 15minutes…to put the mask on ourselves. I don’t know what that looks like for you.
* Maybe it’s taking some quiet time for prayer
* Working out
* Going to a movie
* Reading a good book
* Drinking a glass of wine
* Or maybe you are on the same page as me…Oxygen therapy looks like Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven. A nice cold glass of Organic milk (to keep things healthy) and no interruptions for those few minutes of pure joy…(okay…sorry, I got distracted).
But I think you get my point. Take some time for you. You can’t be all that you are without a little Oxygen Therapy!
