Today, your angel is advising you to devote time for yourself. Donating is not all about providing things for others, it’s only as important as the time you donate to your welfare! Your heart may already know it instinctively, but there’s no harm in directly telling it of all the good deeds done so far. A kind heart deserves the reward called “self-care”.

The Universe offers its positive energy in abundance so there’s enough to balance it between you and other people. So make an effort to do so! Those you’ve donated your time to will likely say the same. There shouldn’t be a principle of one or the other. Plus, your angel is telling you that compassion fatigue exists. It occurs when the support that you’re offering becomes more of a “damage” to anyone than it is a help, and this can only make the situation worse on both ends.

With that said, if you want to continue being compassionate to others, don’t forget to be so for yourself. There’s no limit to kindness but there is a limit to your body.

The Guide to Self-Maintenance

Whether or not you give to others first, or give something to yourself first, the essence of it is just like the usual donating---you want to feel good about yourself. And to this, your angel wants you to know that there’s nothing selfish about improving self-maintenance. After all, you’ve been hard at work in the office and other professional responsibilities.

You should throw away the notion that self-care is an array of activities that help you escape. Remember, you’re not in an inescapable negative space and it’s not a coping mechanism. Happiness is already by your reach, your donation for yourself is merely affirming it and winding you down so you don’t break from too much fulfillment.

Take a step back and breathe. Maintenance doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with you, it’s neither a treatment nor a “healing”. You don’t even need to be in a state of burnout to do it. It’s simply a set of everyday feel-good practices to comfort your mental and physical self. A bit like a pat on the back, really, akin to compassion satisfaction.

Self-care is also a way to ensure continuous high-quality services or donations to other people because you’ll never be taken from the “line of duty”. As they say, “You can’t fill from an empty cup”. Though your angel is happily carrying half the stress, it would still be difficult to help others when you’re bogged down by mental or physical pressure.

Moreover, your angel has a good ‘backward reasoning’ in which a lack of self-donation will provide a bad image to people-donation because the latter will be treated as a pleasure stimulation---an addiction, so to speak. And without it, satisfaction is out of reach. In any case, the importance of self-care will never be debatable in the eyes of the Universe as it would make light of your worth. As a good practice, try visualizing a scale and never let it tip completely on one side.

What can I donate to myself?

The good thing about self-care is that it’s inherently easy because the activities are more or less your hobbies. It’s simply doing what is comfortable to you. 

When you donate time, you have space to do what you usually put off owing to work and other people. You can leisurely read a book, sit by the window and draw whatever it is you see, write a journal, press various kinds of flowers, listen to your favorite playlist, etc. You can also donate some energy for your physical happiness---exercising can induce that.

For mental health, meditation is the way to go. Remind yourself of the spiritual energy circulated by the Universe and be filled with strength. Connect with your emotions, accepting both the positive and negative before letting them be. Spirituality, as it happens, is also a method of self-care. So if you invest in it, your angel would be proud that you’re doing a similar practice as the divine.

Notice how none is excessively stimulating. They’re just some basic affairs you can do at any time. But that’s exactly the case! Your angel is pointing out that while those are normal activities, you rarely give time to focus on them and unknowingly belittle their value. And the fact that it seems unremarkable can make others think it’s not worth doing.

Some people even mistake self-care with laziness, hence why the notion isn’t very widespread in a positive light. What they don’t understand is that it’s no instant gratification. It’s a long-term improvement.

And there’s no need to worry about laziness, your angel can effortlessly determine between the two and can act as your healthcare professional. Unlike laziness, which encourages a complete avoidance of responsibilities, self-care is a break away from outward obligations and into a personal one. The best way to put it is that it’s an act of self-love.

Don’t confuse self-Indulgence with self-care

Be careful of toxic habits that hide behind a mask of self-care; self-indulgence can be easily mixed up with it. True self-care will improve your lifestyle in the long run, self-indulgence mocks that. For example, you may think that being blunt and honest is a good way of being enlightened of authenticity. But honesty without compassion is nothing but cruel, and you may just teach yourself the inability to be empathic of others.

Some people also equate self-care with unproductive routines such as compulsive shopping, daily beauty treatments, day-long internet surfing, and many more. Activities like so will make your satisfaction dependent on temporary habits. Focus your self-care on inward happiness; though the routines might be pleasurable at the moment, it’s essentially unhealthy for both your wallet and your mentality. If it’s too difficult to know whether or not it has a good consequence, just remember your angel’s mastery of the subject. They know the secret to a happy donation, being emissaries of peace. 

The key is to think of ways to induce contentment within and visualize practices to make the effects healthy and long-term.