Don’t Forget Your Oxygen Mask (Truby Tip about Taking Care of Yourself)

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Last Updated on October 7, 2024 by Bill Truby

Learn why prioritizing your well-being is essential for helping others. Just like on a plane, you must put on your oxygen mask first to effectively support those around you.

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Direct Video Transcript

There is an important life lesson you can learn on a plane every single time the flight attendant gives the
pre-flight instructions.

They’ll say in the unlikely event that the oxygen masks fall down from the compartment above you, and you’re traveling with a small child or someone in need, put your mask on first. Then… you put in on the child or the person in need.

That is an important lesson. If you don’t take of you first, you will not have the strength, the energy, the ability, to take care of the
person in need that you’re trying to serve.

When I work with people who are overwhelmed, over-stressed, completely out of it in terms of their life, it’s chaotic.

I’ll say, so when you are on the plane and the flight attendant talks about the oxygen masks whose mask do you put on first, yours or your child’s or the person that you are trying to help? And they almost always say “Oh, I put it on them first. I need to help them.”

They’re out of whack. They’re out of balance. They’re not having the right perspective. You can not give what you don’t have. You can not help if you are not healthy yourself.

You MUST take care of you, no matter how big the crisis is that you’re facing.

No matter how great the need is of the people around you, you MUST take care of you first. And when you do, and only when you do, then you can help other people.

It sounds counterintuitive when you are overwhelmed, but it is absolutely a necessity. Take care of you, then you can take care of others.

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