“I, We, All.”

Give me 1.5 hours of personal time for the day, and I’ll give you 13.5 hours of awesomeness.

There are three successive levels of health: ‘I’, ‘We’, and ‘All’.

‘I’ of course is you, taking care of yourself. This is the idea that you should put your oxygen mask on first, because if you can’t breathe, you’re no good to the kid sitting next to you.

‘We’ is how well you can take care of, be there for, and perform for those around you; your loved ones, your friends, and colleagues. It’s possible that your real motivation for getting healthier lies more in this ‘We’ level, but you must fix ‘I’ before ‘We’.

‘All’ is the larger community and global level that includes our food, health care, and other national & global systems. I’ & ‘We’ are connected to everything you see going on around you, right now, during this pandemic.

As you can see, you can only make an impact on the ‘We’ or ‘All’ level to the extent that you have balanced the level below it.

For me that’s 1.5 hours of self care time per day. That’s what I need to feel my best. (One hour for exercise, plus meditation and reading.)

When I have those things in place, my stress levels go WAY down. I sleep like a baby. I’m ready to attack & crush anything that comes my way: family time, work projects, cooking, friends in need, you name it.

So I make it a point to schedule and prioritize that time. I don’t let anything take it away from me, and, if something happens that causes me to adapt, then I adapt and reschedule.

It’s not selfish to take care of yourself. In fact, it’s selfish not to.