Detoxing Myself

Did you know that there are other ways of detoxing your life by cutting out harmful things that you take into your body? Normally when people think “detox” they think someone is talking about giving up alcohol, or giving up sugar for a couple of weeks, or whatever it may be health conscience wise. But I am talking about a detox from everything around you, and giving yourself the opportunity to focus on none other than yourself.
In high school especially, all of my friends always came to me out of our group to share their problems with. This was fine and I even enjoyed having their trust and confidentiality, and knowing they felt I was very loyal to them. I would always be a great listener to them, and then try and help them figure out a solution to their problems, or stress, or whatever was going on in their life. To be blunt, I was awesome at it! I always went above and beyond, at least I feel like I did, to help my friends out with their problems. But my mom taught me an invaluable lesson. While it was all well and good that I was helping my friends so much, and spending so much of my time with their problems, how was I getting any “me” time in? Where was the time to focus on the things I needed help with and to really give myself quality relaxation time or to have time to reflect on my own life? I was always on the go. I remember my parents talking tome often times about bringing in my circle of friends. I was confused because they were literally; at least it felt like it, telling me to get rid of some of my friends; to have less of them. My mom would always say how my circle was so open and widespread, that I had too many people I was putting before myself.
After a breakdown I had, of being overly tired, overly worked, and having no time for myself, my mom suggested that I really start focusing on me and figuring out everything for myself before helping everyone else. So desperate to not feel so worn down all the time, I took her advice. And it worked! Having more time for myself and really doing things I wanted to do, and really thinking about where I wanted to be heading with my life was the solution I had been looking for all along. It was great to finally be able to be having fun and figuring things out as I went. I wouldn’t’ say it was a huge change, but for some reason, it felt like I had a load lifted off of my shoulders when I attempted to focus on me. I think a main thing to lighten me up was to not feel guilt for not being able to handle or solve everyone else’s problems. I was still the best friend I could be, but I realized I had to be a friend to myself as well.
Looking back I call this turning point a “detox” of myself. I truly was detoxing myself. While I wasn’t getting rid of anything bad, or even rid of anything entirely, I was taking more time to be aware of what I needed personally, and how to meet those needs. So I encourage everyone everywhere to detox him or herself. You’d be amazed at the wonders it does!