I read The Dilbert Blog because Scott Adams amuses me. More so in his blog posts than his comic even. Usually he is cynical and sarcastic in the topics covered everyday, but yesterday as a follow-up to a previous post about how to be happy he made a great point:

Priority-wise, it simply makes sense to take care of yourself before you start searching for a higher meaning. You aren’t much good to anyone else if you’re unhealthy, a financial burden, or an emotional basket case. Fix yourself before you turn outward. It’s best for everyone.

I have many friends and relatives that I try to express this to. They are wonderful caring people who put other people’s priorities and comfort above their own. Then they become stressed out and worried about not being able to help everyone they want to help. Oftentimes they can’t see that being in this state doesn’t allow them to help all the people they want to help very effectively at all.

It may sound selfish at first – that you should put taking care of yourself ahead of taking care of others – but it makes sense. It’s worth taking the time to make things right for you before trying to work on making things right for other people. Everyone will be better off.