The halfway point of the school semester has come upon us. From here on out, days will grow shorter and workloads will increase. As that happens, it’s seriously important for us all to remember to take care of ourselves—to get as much sleep as possible, eat regularly, and to do our best to not sacrifice basic care needs for anything—not even academics or helping out others.
Now don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying we should all sleep in, blow off classes and assignments, and refuse to help out friends if they need it. What I am saying, however, is that I cannot condone sacrificing an entire night of sleep to help someone cram and finish a major project that was left incomplete till the last minute. We all need to accept a measure of adult responsibility, and we should not make ourselves suffer for the lack of it in certain people.
If the only thing you have to give is yourself, then you need to find the necessary ways to renew, recharge, and replenish yourself so you can keep on giving. Self-care is a reality and a necessity. If you start running on empty and abuse yourself for the sake of others, not only will you hurt yourself, you will hurt those around you that care about you. Think about it—you know your friends well. Would any of them actually want you to end up hurting yourself? I should honestly hope not. And if you have friends that are willing to let you sacrifice yourself for their sake while they benefit from it and give nothing in return, I would argue that they are not truly your friends. You are not the lone gift to your friend group to take care of their needs and be their watchdog and parent. You all look out for each other and take care for each other—that’s what should define you as friends. A common adage is to love your neighbor as yourself. A lot of people immediately just take the “love your neighbor” half of the statement as “take good care of others” and completely ignore the other half. But there is another half to the statement. “As yourself” means that you should care for others as well as you care for yourself—so you should care for yourself well. We ourselves still have to live, don’t we?
