#beapriority

If you’ve flown more than once, you likely know the flight attendant’s spiel about the oxygen mask by heart.

After they’ve scared you to death by detailing the drop in cabin pressure and how everything will decompress and there will be no air left to breathe, they then give the following instruction:

“If you are traveling with a child or someone who requires assistance, secure your mask on first, and then assist the other person.“

As I have been traveling every two weeks to a client in Florida, I have heard this instruction over and over and over the past two months but it was only this most recent time that I realized just how sage this advice is—even when we aren’t flying.

See, the reasoning for putting your oxygen mask on first on the plane, is that if you pass out, you cannot help anyone. Everyone goes down, so to speak. But if you put yours on first, then you can help others and tend to others.

It made me think of my every-day, no-flying life. I spend the bulk of my week working for clients, shuttling Kennedy to and from school, running errands, making dinner and lunch, straightening the house, getting groceries, checking in with family, doing laundry, and managing the house. And I also serve on a committee for an adoption service that is near and dear to my heart.

In the rare bit of free time I have, I then try to squeeze in at least two OA meetings, blogging, time with friends, exercising, and God forbid a bit of fun.

And, let’s be honest, I’m lucky if I make it to one meeting, write one blog a week, do anything more than chat briefly on the phone with friends, and squeeze in 10 minutes to read before bed, where I then lay restlessly half the night because I can’t sleep.

In other words, not only is my oxygen mask not on, it is dangling limply before me like a bad joke.

The result? I am irritable. I get annoyed easily. I feel exhausted and down. I snap. I am short-tempered wife and even more short-tempered mother.

In short, I have passed on the floor of the plane and am absolutely no good to anyone.

No... clearly this is a bad plan. Clearly I need to “secure my mask first” if I am to be of any good to anyone.

It starts with, yet again, striving to make myself a priority...something I am clearly not very good at. But here’s the reality. I HAVE to exercise this particular priority muscle or everyone around me suffers.

And what it takes is actually quite simple (not easy, no, but simple):

Exercise daily

2 meetings a week

3 blogs a week

In bed by 10pm

Stick to work routine/schedule

Fun at least 1x/week

Work steps with sponsor

Meditating 1x/day

When I see it written down, it’s actually not such a big deal. It seems doable. Which means that my daily goal is to actually do this and note what catches me up from not doing it. In other words, what prevents me from putting my mask on first.