Put Yourself Back On The Priority List
Posted by Sharon Monteiro
2009
I had been working for twenty-five years and apart from the occasional trip to the beauty saloon, I never had time for myself.
Not happy with my current job, I decided to check the market and bagged a very good job. On my first day, (1st March 2008), on my way to work I was walking towards my pool car when I stopped dead in my tracks and decided that enough was enough.
I needed to look after my family and that would not be possible if I continued working in a 8 am to 6 pm daily office schedule, not forgetting the one hour drive to work and another one hour drive back from work.
To cut a long story short, I trained with the Coaches Training Institute in Knowledge Village, Dubai. During the six month training, we were taught to coach each other and invariably my desire to write a book kept coming up in our coaching sessions. One coach challenged me to start writing my book and much to his surprise, I did write the first draft within a month.
Unknowingly, I had put myself back on the priority list. I had tons of free time and started reading books and experimenting in the kitchen which made my kids very happy. After reading Anthony Robbins book titled “Unlimited Power’ I knowingly put myself back on my priority list and took his advice about eating healthy, deep breathing and exercise. Initially it was tough as I was never interested in salads, fruits and vegetables. I kept with it and slowly began to feel the positive change in me.
Amazingly my life changed and so did I physically and mentally. My relationship with my husband and kids changed for the better. I now had time to really LISTEN to them when they spoke, encourage them and appreciate them. My clothes went down to size ‘Extra Small”, I threw out my formal jackets, skirts, pants and blouses and started wearing soft fabrics with flowing lines and introduced jewel colors to my wardrobe.
And then, the gremlin in me started showing up telling me that I was not earning enough money and that I needed to get back to a full time job. Working with my fear, I started reading the ‘classifieds’ and asked my friends to send me recruiters names. Every day would be a battle inside me whether I should work full time or stay at home and enjoy my new fulfilled life.
One day while watching the Oprah Show, Oprah spoke about putting yourself on the priority list. Wow!! that show dramatically shut up my gremlin forever and now I live my life free of guilt and with the knowledge that I have put myself back on the priority list with time to take care of my family, myself and my friends.
I would describe my life as whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy.
Take a rain check and if you have no time for yourself, do yourself a favor and immediately put yourself back on the priority list. Initially you will feel that it is not possible, a sense of guilt and many other negative emotions may stop you but once you do put yourself back on the priority list, your life and relationships will change forever. You owe it to yourself, You owe it to your family. You owe it to your friends.
Sharon Monteiro is a Motivational Speaker, her niche is young moms and teenagers. She is also a trained Life Coach (divorce and troubled teenagers) and soon to be author of her book ‘Give me a Break!’ Her email id is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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