"We must be our own before we can be another's."
~ RW Emerson ~
I'm not sure where we learn to put ourselves last, but some of us do learn that somewhere along the way. We take care of everyone else first, and if there's anything left over- the dregs- that's what we get. And sometimes, what's left amounts to nothing, and we spend our days and weeks attending to the urgencies and emergencies of our work and family, and don't even bother or think about whatever we may need.
And we dry up... eventually.
But we needn't.
It's the great irony of life that when we do right by ourselves, we do right by others. Effort and care is circular and must revolve.
I am good to myself, and that makes me good for others.
