Take care of number 2, 3, and 4

I never liked that saying “take care of number one.” I may get a bit of backlash because I know some people believe it to be true and practice and teach it often. I know and understand we do have to take care of ourselves, but shouldn’t we help take care of others too? My whole life is centered around taking care of others, I don’t know why, I don’t remember my mom or dad grilling it in me so I don’t really know where I picked it up.

All my life I have taken care of others, first, being the oldest daughter in a family of 6, I had to take care of my brothers and sister after school, get dinner started, and make sure we all did our homework. I was held accountable when mom came home, and she didn’t accept the excuse, “they wouldn’t listen to me!” Then, I had to learn to take care of my husband and wonderful daughter, Ashley, (She came to visit me today! We spent the day in the pool.) Next, add my elderly mom. It’s not that I mind doing it, but as I’ve said before, I like time to relax. I must admit, I am a party animal… just kidding, I like to take naps.  Oh, wait, I forgot to mention the class of 25-30 kids I take care of during the day everyday, September through June. That has got to be the reason I love summer, that is when I get some real down time.

When someone is in trouble, my first instinct is to help them, then I take a step back and think, it that the right thing to do? When I get caught up in what’s wrong with number one, all I do is doing something nice for someone else and all of a sudden, my problem seems to vanish. Sometimes it’s troubling if I need to sacrifice a bit of myself to complete it. So much going on in the world today, I just want to put more positivity out there… I think there needs to be more take care of 2, 3, and 4 instead of number 1 these days.

Who are the 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s in your life? Have you been focusing on number 1? Help someone, do something to make them smile, then, take a nap!