I'm not a fan of flying.

I don't hate it. I just don't love it.

But all of us know the drill...

You wait in line, get your boarding pass scanned, and then wiggle your way down the aisle of the plane before finding your seat.

Once you're seated, you keep yourself busy with music, reading, or thumbing through a magazine.

As you get ready to take off, what happens on every single flight?

The lead flight attendant comes on and gives all the safety procedures, and once you've listened to them on one flight, you pretty much never hear anything they say on any future flights.

But...

What's the one they always say?

Put your own oxygen mask on first.

At first that seems selfish. You want to help others. However, if you're not squared away you're now fighting TWO battles, theirs and yours.

Life is the exact same way.

We are always putting everyone else before us. We make sure our kids are all set, our spouse is all set, heck our dog is even all set before we even think of doing a single thing for ourselves.

If you're struggling to keep your own head above water, how can you be at your best to help those around you?

If you're not squared away, if your oxygen mask is not on first, you're fighting a losing battle. You think you're doing good by helping someone, but meanwhile you're both going to suffer all because you didn't help yourself first.

Helping people, and putting others before you are an awesome thing. But...

If you want to help them, you MUST help yourself first.

Help yourself first by making sure you're happy, getting in your exercise, eating right, reducing your stress, and doing what you want to do.

Then you'll be at your best to help anyone around you, and the quality of your help will be 10x better than trying to help someone when you can barely breath.

Put your own mask on first.

~Doug Spurling