Do you have the capacity? I mean the emotional capacity to deal with it all. We all have our friend groups and within those friend groups, we have our “strong friends”. These are the people we rely on when we are down, the people we run to for advice and a shoulder to cry on. Even when we have those strong friends, we still depend on each other for support, encouragement, and generally having good energy around. I am the type of person who is always ready to support a friend, advise them, or simply give a shoulder to cry on. When I care about people, I care wholeheartedly.
I’ve recently found myself overwhelmed, both mentally and emotionally. With this feeling I’ve become more and more prone to wanting to be alone and distance myself from the world’s noise. This feeling left me quite conflicted because I felt like I was failing my other responsibilities, in terms of being there for my people and essentially being mentally and emotionally present in my own life. As I grappled with how to keep my head above the water and continue my life normally, I realized that I was doing myself a big disservice. I needed to and still need to cut myself some slack.
It is easy to get caught up being everything for other people and by the time we come back to care for ourselves, it is a hardcore task. I had to take a beat from trying to fulfill my role in other people’s lives and start looking at how I was showing up for myself, this meant shutting everything out and look at myself. Was I expending the same energy into myself as I was in my work and my relationships? Absolutely not. With this realization came the fact that I needed to pour more energy into myself and that also means that I needed to be open to telling people that I do not have that capacity to be there for anyone but myself.
Friends, in the climate of the world we’re in it is much easier to worry about everything else but ourselves. We tend to neglect our feelings to avoid thinking of the pain, frustration or just simply being overwhelmed. It is high time that we show up for ourselves. Take time to look into yourself. Ask yourself if you have the capacity to be there for others. If your friends and your tribe really care about you, they will encourage you to take time for yourself. If they don’t empathize, then that should also speak volumes about the energy around.
It is time for you to show up for yourself.
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