So my husband is really big into listening to podcasts aka talk radio. I have always found podcasts really boring and annoying. Seriously, when I am in the car, especially by myself, that is defined as (ME) time. The last thing I want to do, is crawl inside my own head, because that happens every second of the day.

Nope, what sounds a lot better is to jump in the car, roll down the windows, crank up the radio (possibly to an inappropriate song I can no longer play while my daughter is in the car), and just unwind. 9x out of 10, that’s what you’ll catch me doing. However, yesterday I decided to tune into a few different podcasts that were *somewhat* interesting to me. Unlike my husband who really only subscribes to channels related to real estate investing, and becoming a millionaire (ha), I found various stations on self-reflecting and interpersonal development–which as a blogger, clearly, I LOVE. Within seconds, I was kinda hooked. Really! I could hardly believe it myself, I listened to the entire one hour episode. What!

The topic of discussion was about taking care of yourself first. Not exactly breaking news, right? Yep, we have all heard that before. How can you take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself? Blah, blah, blah. Easier said than done.

I attempted just that last week, when I started a workout challenge that ended just days in, literally. I was on point with everything until that 3 day weekend rolled around–they always gets me! Totally didn’t make time to workout, meal prep, etc. On Memorial Day, we had a neighborhood BBQ, and I had more calories than the meal plan would otherwise suggest (wink). Okay, no problem, so I’ll start over tomorrow. Then that day came, and it didn’t happen. I found another excuse.

Before you know it, here is Wednesday, and I just thought, what the heck, lets listen to a darn podcast and see if something inspires me! It was like, the absolute perfect episode to listen to–are they even called episodes? Who knows. Anyways, it was screaming directly at me. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! Actually, the man wasn’t screaming. He was talking in the lowest monotone voice that could have put anyone to sleep–the typical podcast voice. Ugh! Lucky for him, the message was powerful and I continued listening.

Here are some takeaways from the (episode):

No matter how much time you have, set aside love, attention, and money for me. As a mom and wife, it’s not always easy to do this.

Deep exploration. Discover what really matters to me, what lights me up? Going to have to put some more thought into that…

Nourish my state of mind. Does that mean meditate? Who me? No way! Go to the spa? That would be an expensive way to nourish myself–sounds amazing though! But really, how does one truly do that? I am going to work on figuring that out because taking even just 30 minutes for myself will allow me to function at a higher level of focus and in turn, allow me to be more present for the things that really matter.

Heard it before? Yes, me too. But this time, the way the podcast presented this stuff just made it look and sound a little different; a little better.

Many women who share the role of mother and wife might think this all sounds a little selfish. But there is no such thing as a “purely selfless” act. In fact, a purely selfless act, is fiction to make us feel better. It’s true. We are all wired a certain way, and if the act we do benefits others, it also means we benefit and vice versa. Okay, ding ding ding! The aw-hah moment! Taking care of ME will absolutely benefit my husband and my daughter. Even if it means I’m away from them to accomplish this, when I return, I’ll be relaxed, rejuvenated, and all in all be more present for them.

Summary: Every act that benefits another is both selfless and selfish. So start being unapologetic-ally ME!