I Choose Me...

I have a shirt that says, "When things go bad, don't go with them." ~ Elvis Presley

Someone said in reference to themselves the other day that they need to stop living their life for other people and start taking care of themselves first. I've been told this about myself and it was another reminder, I need to do the same.
When I say I choose me I do not mean it in a selfish sense. There are people that are very selfish people and there are those that have put themselves on the back burner for too long.
I myself tend to do everything myself, I take too much on and I put my needs aside to help others first. All that does is leave me feeling empty and stressed, what good am I like that.
It starts off like this and if you don't catch it then things can spiral and you can go on to completely lose your self worth and respect.
What you give to the world is what you will receive in return. If you live your life with reckless abandon and complete disregard for others there will be consequences. Often times people with no self worth will turn to what ever attention or distraction they can to try and boost their self esteem. Drugs, sex, violence seeking attention from people and in ways they know can destroy those around them. Yet they do it anyway because the others in their life really don't matter, it's more about getting attention and instant gratification. They lose sight of what is right in front of them because they do not respect themselves and therefore cannot respect anyone else.
It is so easy to get hurt when you don't choose yourself first. You put blinders on to the world around you. Then one day something goes wrong and all the sudden your world is tossed into a spin and you see all you have is yourself.
When I've put myself last for too long I find myself to be irritable and in general not a fun person to be around. I start to feel resentful, I take it out on others that do not deserve it. If I stop and turn the tables and see that if someone else was doing to me what I am doing to them and it would cause hurt and resentment then it's not ok for me to act that way.
When you choose yourself and your own needs first then everything else will fall into place. It's not easy and it can be extremely hard to even know where to start, but you have to start somewhere. There will be people in your life that will be upset with the change they see in you, it's ok to let them go and move on. Those are the people that have lost their self worth also. When you live life for you then suddenly things become more clear. You see things for what they are, you see what is unhealthy. You have stronger intuition and know when something doesn't feel right it's not.
The people that stick around are the ones that have that also and can see the changes in you as good and better. Those are the people you can be around and just be yourself. There is no competition, no need to impress, no choice to be made. Once you take are of you, you will be giving to others what you would like and deserve in return and everyone will be much happier.
So please excuse me for a while, I am going to once again take the steps to choose me. If you see me straying from my goal give me a little nudge back in the right direction. It's not an easy thing to do and old habits die hard.