Take What You Need
1492
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Take What You Need

18 Jan Take What You Need

Posted at 15:33h in Uncategorized by

I’m at the coffee shop, waiting for my order next to the pickup counter.
There is a sign posted with bold, black letters: “Take What you Need.” On the tear-off tabs below — where phone numbers would be if it were a sign for a lost dog — are single words:

Comfort
Strength
Love
Courage
Friendship
Compassion
Laughter
Change
Forgiveness
Support
Connection

I watch as a woman standing next to me reaches toward the sign and tears off the word “laughter.” She notices me and smiles as she slips it into her pocket. 

As she walks out the door with her coffee in hand and laughter in her pocket, I think about the sign. The assumption is that people will take only what they need. What if someone takes too many, I wonder. Would someone stop them? And when the sign is empty, what happens? The absence of tear-off tabs would indicate there’s simply no more to give.
Yet, when we give of ourselves in different ways to those around us, there is no tear-off sign with all of the tabs gone that lets people know there’s nothing left for now. How empty would we have to be to say, “I’m sorry, but I have no more to give?” At what point do we realize we are depleted and stop someone and say, “Enough. I need to recharge first. I need some time for myself.”

I look at the sign and focus on the word “strength.”

That’s what it takes, I think, to walk away from people and situations that need more than we have at the present time. It takes so much strength to love ourselves enough to say no and enforce boundaries, even if it means potentially disappointing others. 

If we don’t have tear-off tabs to assess our own level of resilience and need for self-care, it’s not about finding strength to endure and say, “I can be strong enough to keep giving, just a little more” but rather to say, “No. I’m going to be strong enough to say I have to take care of myself right now.”
Take the time you need to nourish and look after yourself. Because everyone is better off when we treat ourselves with the same beautiful compassion that we offer others.