The Importance of Putting Yourself First

Putting yourself first is a common topic in the wellness space. You hear it all the time, right?

“Fill your cup first so you can pour into others.”

“Put your air mask on before assisting the person next to you.”

“Take care of you first by being the #1 thing on your priority list.”

Logically, this probably rings true for you on some level. But what does it actually mean to put yourself first?

Why It’s Important To Put Yourself First

I want you to take a moment to think of yourself as a battery (specifically your phone battery). 

You use your phone throughout the day for various things. Talking, reading emails, engaging on social media, playing Wordle.

And each of those phone activities uses up some of the battery charge – some take just a little bit, while others may keep running in the background (like a forgotten open app) secretly sucking all of the power out of your phone without you even noticing.

Eventually, you have to plug your phone into a charger or the battery will be so used up the phone will just shut down.

Our bodies are not all that different from our phone batteries. 

Each day, you’re using your energy (battery charge) to accomplish tasks. And similarly to batteries, if you’re not charging yourself back up, eventually you start to shut down. 

In the case of your human battery, running out of charge can show up in many ways (we all hold and use our energy differently). It may show up as chronic overwhelm, fatigue, uncontrollable emotions, illness and more.

So it makes sense that we need to find ways to restore our energy levels (charge our batteries) so we don’t get too out of balance by using more than we’re putting back in.

What Restores Your Energy

If I asked you how you restore your energy, some things that may come to mind quickly are sleeping, nutrition and exercise.

From a physical perspective, all of those things are critical for energy restoration and maintenance.

But I also want you to consider how you use your energy from mental and emotional perspectives.

What things are you doing throughout your day that require lots of concentration or brainpower?

What things are you doing throughout your day that require emotional presence – both for yourself and for people around you?

Lastly, consider what “open apps” may be running in the background, taking your energy without you really even noticing.

When you think about your energy from this holistic 360-perspective, does it give you a new view of how much you’re actually using each day?

And if you’re not prioritizing ways to restore your energy, you can see how easy it is to run your battery out.

Primary Energy vs. Secondary Energy

I want to introduce you to a new way of thinking about your personal battery charge through the lens of primary and secondary energy.

Primary energy is what you get from plugging yourself into the charger to restore your battery levels. And there are many types of chargers you have access to.

Primary energy can come from those foundational physical aspects of sleep, good nutrition and movement. It can also come from the types of activities we choose to engage in, the places we choose to spend our time, the people we surround ourselves with, and more.

Let’s use people as an example here. 

We’ve all experienced being around people who drain our energy. You leave their presence feeling completely zapped and maybe even a little disgruntled.

Then there are people who seem to light us up. You leave their presence feeling energized, motivated, or maybe even grounded.

This same give and take happens with all of those other aspects of our environments too.

An easy way to start rebalancing your energy is to simply pay attention to how things make you feel. With that awareness, you can start making decisions about how your energy is being used or restored.

Secondary energy is the energy your body and mind use to get things done and interact with the world around you.

And just like I mentioned with the phone battery example, some things take just a little bit of your energy, while others may keep running in the background secretly taking it without you even noticing.

Taking Action To Put Yourself First

Through this concept of primary vs. secondary energy, I hope it’s easier to see why putting yourself first (charging your battery with primary energy) is so crucial. 

If you’re consistently using up your primary energy without consciously restoring it, eventually that secondary energy you need to live life turns into fumes. 

And when you’re running on fumes, nothing/nobody (including yourself) is getting the best version of you and what you have to offer.

If this topic rings true to you, take some time to list out all the things that are taking your energy and all of the things that restore it. Notice any patterns that come up and see what adjustments (even tiny ones) you can make to move back into energetic balance.

I dive into detail with this topic through Energy Mapping in my Overwhelm to Emotional Resilience program. And that’s just a small piece of the work we’ll do together.

Learn more about my program, or connect with me to see if working together in this program would be a good fit for you:

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