What I have learned, or what I am learning again, or maybe just wrapping my head around is how we all have our limits of things we can deal with. I know it sounds simple but really it isn’t. It isn’t simple because no one knows when the time will come and they will reach their limit. When it will all become too much, Or when they will decide to let it all go. People can get knocked around by life many many times and still find a way to stand back up and face the day. But for each person, there is the last straw, the one that breaks the camels back. For each person, there is a point to where they cannot keep moving forward. When I think of this I am reminded of what the flight attendant tells passengers during the oftentimes ignored pre-flight instruction. You know the part right? The part where he or she tells everyone to put their oxygen mask on first, and then help others.

We have to take care of ourselves first if there is ever a chance at helping anyone else. And that means if life is throwing us a curve knocking us down, or if life is blowing our dreams apart and our tightly wound ideas off track, or even picking apart our inner selves, well then we need to find that thing that we can do that puts us back to center. And we need to do that thing, or things whatever they are, every chance we get.

I know it seems simple. I know we like to think that only the weak or unprepared fall prey to life’s unexpected twists but the truth is everyone can be pushed to and over their limit. So with that in mind, remember to always put on your mask first.