The Power of Hashtags

The other day, a close friend of mine had come over to visit. Each of us with warm brewed teas at hand and chatted like school kids on the couch. We went through the list of some of our favourite conversations:

How we met

How far we've come 

What we are truly proud of in each other

Our goals of the previous year

What else we still need to do to progress.

How we've been significant influences in each other's lives

Every year, whenever we would write our goals together, we would have a list of 25 different line items. Upon reflection, the end of the year brought a new kind of dread. We barely achieved a third of it.  Rather than being proud of the goals that we did achieve it (some of them were rather BIG goals that we accomplished!) we would instead divert our attention to the failures of not completing the other two thirds. This meant, promising ourselves to do more the following year, not noticing the potential of burnout. 

I asked her, "If there was one thing you would do this year - what would that be?"

At that precise moment, she froze. I could sense her brain whirring in thought. Her eyes darted across the room. She looked at me with the brightest of smile. "I've got it" she said, "Me... First. Hashtag me first. This year is going to be about me putting myself first! It has to be. This is my only goal of the year - no....more.....lists."

Her voice was strong, her body upright, shoulders relaxed but her eyes firm. It was as if saying these two words had helped her to gain back her sense of self.

It feels like 20 years ago the hashtag or pound sign was used when we needed to "return to the beginning", "return to the main menu" or "to continue" when listening to an automated telephone messaging service. Who knew a hashtag would be so influential that we would be used in a sentence today. Who knew that a hashtag would be so helpful when it came to define ourselves. The new Full Stop.

And she was right, #MeFirst is so simple and yet so powerful.  

Me First doesn't mean be selfish. It's about being authentic to your own needs to avoid burn out. It's about taking responsibility for yourself. 

It means self care, and that you are important. Whether that means taking five minutes out of your day to have a cup of tea. Or getting a massage. Or staying in for the evening because you want quiet time. Cooking yourself a meal full of nutrients. Carving out the time to (re)write your resume so that you can move into a better role at or outside your workplace. They are as little or as big as you want them to be. 

We often sacrifice self-care because we become too busy trying to save everyone else. Evolution of social interactions through mediums like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat mean the more we post, the more Likes we get. We stay longer at work, because we always have more to do - because it is expected of us. We need to do more, say more, be more. We have be been taught to "be nice", "care for others" - this however does not mean 'at your expense.' 

We are already so responsible for so many things, let us now take responsibility for ourselves - #MeFirst.

If there was one thing you did this year - what would your hashtag represent?