Valentine's Day...what do you love? Taking care of what matters most.

This is the week of love. Valentine’s Day is always centered around telling and showing those you love how much you care about them, but what about yourself? Do you love and care about yourself enough to take time each week to take care of your health and nourish your soul? I know, life gets crazy! And most of the time, the person to sacrifice when time gets scarce is the person who needs it, us! Yes, we all have so many hats to wear that it’s hard to take time for each of them. But here’s the key, for the things (people) most important to you, your absolute top priorities, you really need to take time to nourish and nurture them every week, each day even if possible.

For me, that is my family, my husband, my business, and myself. Most of us can successfully manage two of these, or maybe even three of these, but all four? Whew! Here are a few thoughts:

For your loved ones, don’t wait until a special day (like Valentine’s Day) to tell them and show them how much you love them. This has to be a daily thing! Give gratitude to each other, talk and listen to each other, and chose each other, even if means doing something that wouldn’t be at the top of your list of ‘most favorite activities’. Relationships take work, communication, and love…every day; carry that expression of love from Valentine’s Day with you always.

For yourself, you have to take time for your health and your own well being (sanity time!). Again, I know how busy we all are these day, but here’s the thing: If you don’t take the time each week to relax, exercise, de-stress, and do something for you, when it comes time to play with your kids, grandkids, play after you retire, etc., you are not going to have the physical, mental, or emotional ability to live life to the fullest, to truly live! Doing the right kind of exercise will keep you young, really! Taking time for yourself each week to relax and de-stress will keep you happy and young, really! This might sound strange, but I used to be the person who would carry the weight of the world, and everyone else, on my shoulders; it took me until my Junior year of college to realize that I couldn’t live the rest of my life like that. If I just kept giving, caring, and taking care of everyone else, eventually, I wouldn’t have any more left inside me to give. Taking that little bit of time each week will restore your reserves and make sure you can keep giving, caring, loving, and playing for as long as you live.

Since exercise is vital for taking care of your health and future health, we come back around to our exercise of the week.