Why don't we always put ourselves first? Let's start with relationships. We seem to always and when I say always, I mean it. We seem to always be putting relationships before ourselves.

I feel like we are constantly trying to push our significant others to greater heights...and what if you lose sight of your own? In relationships we let this other person take up all of our time, all of our energy, and all of our thoughts. When was the last time you had no one to text, left your phone in your bag and just took a walk? I don't just mean it's okay to put yourself first for your future and career but I also mean for personal time and getting to know YOURSELF better.

So why don't we put ourselves first and how can we change that?

We think self-care means being selfish

When we are being pulled in a million different directions, we think that we can't say no. We always feel we need to please everyone and I am so beyond done with that. This year I have picked out individual things I want to do to stay involved and the rest had to go. I needed to figure out how to have time to myself to do things I enjoy doing and be stress free. Wanting to take care of yourself isn't selfish. It's selfish to neglect yourself and your body and what it needs to stay healthy and happy.

We expect others to take care of us

Especially as we are getting older, the best thing you can do to put yourself first is to release the people taking care of you. You need to learn how to do these things alone and get confident with fending for yourself. When you are able to rely on only yourself you can put yourself and your true needs first. What do you actually enjoy? Do you like cooking? Do you have certain routines you've created for yourself? At some point, we have to go off and do this world on our own. It's better to start now and be confident.

We don't realize our worth

I think one of the largest reasons why we don't put ourselves first is because we don't see our own worth. It honestly is a very very long journey to finding your own personal worth. Everyone's path is so different. I recently feel I am just coming to the point where I fully see my self worth and feel I am at a great point in my life to be happy for myself and where I am at. But, once you do just a couple of even small things for yourself, and enjoy it - I feel it will get easier for you to do things on your own and for yourself and that's one of the first steps to realizing your worth and how amazing you truly are.

It is OKAY to put yourself first and take the first leap to finding out who you really are. It's okay to say no so you can take a walk or cook a great meal for yourself or watch your favorite show on Netflix. It can seem like a lot to have yourself be at the center and can be scary but you need it. It's time to say yes, to you!