By My daughter was getting ready for her dance class. She picked up a shirt to go with her pants. It had many wrinkles, and I asked her to iron them out. She casually said it didn’t matter. I insisted she does so that she looks classy. She didn’t want to do it anyway. I said to her, that is fine, what will you do if your friend wants you to lend a shirt? Would you still give this to her? She firmly said, mama how can I lend this to her. This doesn’t look good. I asked her, then how are you okay to wear it? Don’t you value yourself? She looked at me for a while and then started to iron her shirt.
How many times we do things like this? I have seen mothers eating leftovers from previous cooking, saying their children deserve fresh food. Can’t she have hot food too? My father has never wanted to buy new clothes for himself. I have many times seen him sew his torn clothes. He always says my daughters need new clothes. All my best dinner sets are kept aside for guests and old, shapeless plates and tumblers for the family. My daughter has often waited for guests to come home so that she gets to eat on those plates.
Why do we feel that we don’t deserve those things too? If we don’t take care of ourselves, what will our children learn from us? Self-care is not selfish. Let’s learn to take care and prioritize ourselves because if we don’t, no one else will.